“You’re going to have to get used to it, kiddo,” the nurse told me. “Every second year boy has to go through a week of this. You’re class is just the first batch of the year.”

“I would’ve liked to be second at least. Then I could get some pointers.”

“You’re going to be the one giving pointers later. That’s why I picked your class first.”

“That’s what I get for being the part of the health committee, Sasakura-Sensei.”

“It makes you a lot calmer than most students at least,” she laughed before standing up. While she grabbed my hand and pulled me off the chair I was seated on as well. She hovered her hand over my head to make my current height known.

Going from 180 cm to 165 cm was a dramatic change. I was previously taller than the nurse, but now I was eye level with her. It was a strange feeling.

“Remember to tell your temporary replacement you won’t be able to help out in this next week,” Sasakura-Sensei told me. “You’ll be getting smaller throughout the week, so it’d be better if you had fewer responsibilities while dealing with your new height.”

“I got it, Sensei,” I nodded. “Takahashi will be coming later today.”

“Glad to hear you’ve already let her know,” Sensei smirked. She picked up a clipboard from her desk and walked over to the door, sliding it open. “Well, back to class with you then. You’ll see me again tomorrow. In the meantime, be wary that the reduction rate picks up. You’ll be a much smaller size once that happens.”

Smaller size. Those two words caused by body to focus its senses on my height that was slowly melting away. How small would the Reduction take me and what would it be like? I was curious but I also honestly could have done without knowing. 

To adjust for the use of size altering technology’s commonplace use in the workplace, all of us boys and girls had to be taught how it was at different sizes. Being mandated by the government to go through Reduction for a week was going to be a strange time for all of us.

“Okay. Next student!”

I was thankful I wasn’t one of the super popular kids. It meant I wasn’t surrounded by a majority of the girls like Eguchi. The handsome guy was smoothly avoiding standing up, but I could see the sweat pouring down his neck from nervousness. I wasn’t a friend of the gyaru clique like Arai. His normal bravado and confidence vanished while he was pulled along by his girlfriend and her friends. Their presence didn’t mean I didn’t have anything to worry about, however.

Just because I wasn’t super popular didn’t mean I didn’t have many female friends.

“So, Touya, how are you feeling? Is it overwhelming yet?” my classmate and childhood friend Yae approached me with quiet footsteps. “You sure look like you’re doing well after getting shorter.”

“It hasn’t gotten drastic enough yet, so it isn’t an issue yet,” I shrugged.

“Aw… I’m a little disappointed. I thought you’d be a bit more panicky,” Yae admitted with a gentle smile. She played with the pink hairpin pulling her bangs aide. “I want to see you shocked at us being the same height.”

Yae being 160 cm tall, she always did complain about being unable to reach places I could. She had mentioned before that she was looking forward to our second year of high school because of what the boys and girls had to go through.

“Well, you’ll have to wait until later then. I’m not giving you that satisfaction by standing up.”

“Eh? But I want to see it. Can’t you stand up for me?”

“Nope. Have some mercy, would you?”

“Bu-”

Yawn.

“Sheesh. You boys really are all chicken,” the yawning classmate in the seat in front of me, Takahashi, remarked, rubbing her eyes as she turned around. She tried to straighten her curling hair with her finger, but her permanent bedhead couldn’t be fixed. “You should just face facts and be honest that you’re shorter now. That’s what Reduction does.”

“Hey, I’ll admit it. I’ll also admit I don’t want to see the difference,” I was honest. “I like Yae here being shorter than me. I’d rather she stay her cute, short self.”

“T-Touya!” I could hear Yae stutter. Her ears were red.

“Fufu… Well, I guess that is honest,” my words made Takahashi chuckle. “You two need to get a room. Also, you’re going to have a hard time when Asano has to go through Magnification, Kirishima-kun.””

“Urgh...”

Though I knew that, I didn’t want to be reminded of it. Despite always looking sleepy, Takahashi had a sharp tongue.

Her wit was also pretty sharp.

“Hm… Now that I think about it, even if you’re around the same height, you should’ve gotten a lot lighter, Kirishima-kun. I bet if Asano really wanted, she could pull you out of your seat without trying.”

Though she was simply just thinking aloud while still attempting to wake back up after sleeping during the last period, I didn’t like what she was implying. The hand suddenly on my shoulder was all I needed to confirm.

“Please, Touya?” Yae asked for permission. I flinched for a moment. Her grip was a bit rough. I told myself that it was those puppy dog eyes she used that were always effective against me. I was always soft on my childhood friend. 

“Fine,” I sighed and stood up to match the 160 cm height…

Is what I wanted to be the case, but I stood corrected. I was looking up at her already. By the looks of it, I was maybe 3 cm shorter, so 157 cm.

I don’t know what kind of expression was on my face, but it was definitely one of shock. In the time it took for all of the boys’ Reductions to finish and for class to end, I had lost another 8 cm. What Sasakura-Sensei about the reduction rate was right.

Yae couldn’t hide her smile at the sight of me, her 180 cm friend now slightly shorter than her.  

“So that’s the face… Fufu...” Yae stifled a giggle. “So I’m finally the taller one. I don’t know if I could get used to this though.”

“You’ll have to because you’re going to be taller all week,” I told her with a nervous smile. “So could you please stop using your hand to check heights? It’s a little embarrassing.”

I tried to swat Yae’s hand away but she immediately moved it back. I had to use my full force when I grabbed her wrist to stop her because, though we were around the same height, I was clearly smaller due to proportionality both in height and build. I was tiring myself out however as Takahashi soon got into the teasing as well when she became remotely more awake. Standing up, she flanked me and compared her 170 cm height to mine as well.

“By the way, Kirishima-kun. You’ll need to show me where the nurse’s office is later. I’m supposed to be your substitute, right?” spoke Takahashi who dropped her chin on my shoulder and held me from behind.

“What? You forgot already? Come on, Takahashi,” though I struggled, fighting Takahashi’s hold was useless. It wasn’t even due to my height in this case. The sleepy girl had a dead man’s grip almost naturally. Getting grabbed by her while she was sleeping meant no escape even when I was 180 cm tall.

“Whoa,” the girl holding me ignored my words and struggles and looked over at Yae. “Asano. You can feel him getting smaller if you hold him like this.”

“Really? Do you mind if I try, Touya?” Yae requested.

I sighed as I continued to be pulled along for the remainder of the passing period. At least I wasn’t the only one. The rest of the boys in class 2-D were in the same boat. Eguchi had four of his admirers pulling on him and while arguing with each other. It was only going to get worse for him. Arai was being pressed into his gyaru girlfriend’s chest while her friends laughed. 

This week, there was no way any boy in 2-D was going to have any influence over the girls. This week of Reduction was meant to give us boys a taste of the future, but it definitely wasn’t something I wanted to get used to. This entire day and week were going to be long.

There was concern in her voice. Though she had heard about the Reduction the previous year and had seen a few male upperclassman go through it before, seeing me go through it made her worried. I appreciated the thought, but the 14 cm difference between us made me silent. It was a strange feeling to be the one looking up. Was this how the view was for her normally? 

Normally, I’d be a head taller than Yae, but now it was getting to be the opposite.

“Touya?” Yae leaned down so as to look me in the eye and called my name.

“It’s hard to get used to this new height when I keep getting shorter,” I frowned and stepped away from the door. I shook off my thoughts. “Well, no sense in getting bothered by it until I can’t avoid it. C’mon, Yae. Let’s eat.”

“Sure,” Yae agreed as we returned to the desks we had pushed together. Yae bounced forward and took a seat first, opening up her bento while placing mine right beside it.

I was about to get to my desk but was quickly yanked back by an unavoidable force. A chin landed on the top of my head.

“Hey, can I join in?” Takahashi asked with bread from the store in her right hand. She was using her left hand and leg to hold me close to her.

“Takahashi, you’re really enjoying this, aren’t you?”

“Yup. You’re the perfect height to rest my chin on,” the girl bluntly admitted. “I want to do this while I can because you’ll be too small later.”

She was certainly honest, I couldn’t help but chuckle. Takahashi was both Yae’s and my friend since middle school. True to her desire, she enjoyed sleeping, eating, and playing, especially sleeping even though she always looked tired. 

“I am so getting you back for this later,” I warned her.

“I’ll be waiting until next week then,” Takahashi knew I wouldn’t be able to this week and took full advantage of it.

“Aoi-chan, you should stop,” Yae giggled at the sight of us but wanted Takahashi to stop as much as I did. “Come on, you two. We need to eat.”

Agreeing, Takahashi finally let me go and I was able to make it to my chair. With my smaller size, I had to admit my lunch felt a lot more filling than before. I had a laugh as Takahashi started poking fun at Yae for not wanting to eat the tomatoes her mother packed in her lunch. Lunch thankful passed uneventfully enough for me to take note of the others.

A number of the boys had actually gathered together to talk and hang out. The group number made it less likely for the girls to butt in. I would have joined in, but I had to admit I preferred Yae’s company. I could tell Eguchi and Arai felt the same. They also still chose to be with their respective groups despite Eguchi looking a little more henpecked due to the clingy Satou and Arai having his boasts dismissed by his friends. 

Still, much like myself, the other boys also stayed in the classroom. That was going to remain a constant because it was heavily suggested by Sasakura-Sensei. Not many of us wanted other students to meet us with Reduction in process because it would become even more of a hassle. To me, Yae and Takahashi were enough to deal even with the Reduction just starting. I was going to have to bring my own lunch for the week to keep it that way.

Slam!

“Senpai!!!”

“Grk!” I visibly winced the moment I heard the door slam open and a shrill voice follow. Turning my head, I saw long dark hair and a bandage. “Okazaki.”

Nao Okazaki, my junior in the health committee, had barged into the classroom as loudly as ever. To be completely honest, Okazaki was short. Being 145 cm and having a baby face made her get mistaken for a middle schooler and a primary schooler before. She acted like one on more than one occasion, admittedly. While in the health committee, Sasakura-Sensei often asked that I show her the ropes which led to her relying on me on multiple occasions.

This was not a time I wanted her to come to me for help, however.

“Aha! There you are!” Okazaki spotted me sitting at my desk and approached. “Senpai, you’ve got to help me. Sasakura-sensei’s asking me to do too many things!”

There were other committee members to turn to, but to pick me, that narrow-mindedness is what makes Okazaki… well, Okazaki.

“Takahashi, I thought you were supposed to be my substitute. Isn’t this your job?” I asked the girl who was trying to sneakily take Yae’s last meatball.

“Eh? I’m starting already?” Takahashi was surprised.

“Aoi-chan, don’t tell me you forgot…,” said Yae as she swatted Takahashi’s hand away.

“Substitute? Senpai, why do you need a substitute?” Okazaki tilted her head. Either she didn’t get the memo or she got it and then promptly forgot about it.

“You mean it isn’t obvious?”

“No?”

“Wow…,” I couldn’t help but utter. More than her height, it’s that one-track mind and obliviousness that makes people mistake Okazaki for a child. Even sitting in front of her, she didn’t notice anything different.

“Touya… you might want to show her,” advised Yae.

Sighing, I nodded. Getting out of my seat, I stood up, getting to my present full height of 145 cm, having lost another 1 cm since I was eating. Okazaki’s eyes widened at the sight of our gazes lining up.

“Whoa. No way! You’re the same height as me now Senpai.”

“You’ve got that right,” I asserted. “Sensei told you about the Reduction, didn’t she? I won’t be doing any committee work this week, so you’ll have to ask the other members for help.”

“Reduction? That was today?” Okazaki blinked. She then looked around and saw the other boys in the classroom. She was bright-eyed. “Uwaaah… No way... Am I actually taller than people for once?”

Standing up, Takahashi joined me, and much to my dismay, used my head as a chin rest again. “Surprised? Don’t worry. Your year will do the same thing next year. The Magnification too.”

“So Senpai’s small for a week?”

“Yeah. Isn’t it cool?” Takahashi spoke with her head still on mine. 

Okazaki nodded before she turned her attention to me. “This is amazing! Senpai, do you want to make a Shorty Alliance?”   

“You mind not treating me like an exhibit?” I asked before jumping. It was a last resort, but I pushed Takahashi’s relaxed jaw up swiftly and painfully. She recoiled back and let go of me. “Okazaki, you should get back to your own class. If you need any help with the work, just let Takahashi here know later. She can get her work done even if she doesn’t look the part.”

“So mean, Kirishima-kun…,” Takahashi nursed her injury.

“You left your guard down.”

“C’mon, Senpai! Shorty Alliance! Oh, but I guess, you’ll be getting shorter if it’s the Reduction…”

“You’re not serious are you?”

“Fufufu...” 

I heard Yae giggle. I turned to see she had stood up and moved between myself and Okazaki. She was ready to enter the conversation.

“Okazaki-chan, was it?” she started. “I’m sorry about your alliance and your committee work, but you may want to make it clear with the nurse about the rules.”

“Rules?”

“It’s strongly suggested to leave students from classes in the middle of Reduction week alone,” Yae clearly stated. “I know you mean well, but Touya and the others are basically in the middle of a class so it’s rude to bother them and might cause trouble.”

Why was it that people listened to Yae more than they did me? It was because Yae was a very calm speaker despite how soft-spoken she looked.

“Besides, you might be giving yourself more work because the health committee has to deal with all the Reduction details,” my childhood friend added.

This hit home for Okazaki. “Urk. Right.”

Ping! Pong!

And, that was the bell that marked the end of lunch. Right on time.

“Uwah. I got to head back,” Okazaki realized. “Sorry, Senpai. I’ll see you another time, then.”

With a bow, Okazaki left. Really, that girl was a storm, just coming and going as she pleased. I didn’t think I would’ve gotten through to her without Yae around. 

“Thanks Yae,” I told her.

“Anything for you, Touya,” she replied before turning to Takahashi who was still nursing her hurt chin. “Um… Aoi-chan, should I get you some ice for that?”

“That’d be great, thank you.”

(4) Day 1 Simple Walk Home (145 cm > 140 cm)

Even at the end of the day, Reduction still kept going. Being a week long process, even though I was going home, I would still be getting shorter. That was why the nurse wanted all of us boys to make proper arrangements for when we were even smaller. The school provided the absolute necessities, but for anybody desiring more could get Sasakura-Sensei’s approval.

I let her know that I would be going to and from school with Yae the entire time. Though I didn’t need the approval for now, Yae and I had let Sasakura-Sensei know long ago because we always went together. It was a benefit from being neighborhood childhood friends.

“Still, this really is a pain. I didn’t think the first day would be this surprising,” I told Yae as we walked together. I was power walking forward while Yae walked around 3 steps behind me.

“I can’t believe it either,” she agreed. “I didn’t think I’d get to see a small Touya. I’m not sure what to think.”

“I’m not sure either,” I turned around to look up at Yae. Now that I was 140 cm, the 20 cm difference between us was identical to the original height difference between us. So this was how tall I looked to Yae. Well, to me, she looked over 2 m tall. She was still the cute Yae I knew, but I definitely preferred it when she was shorter.

“Touya?” Yae noticed me staring when we arrived at a stoplight.

“It’s nothing,” I told her. “I just thought you definitely look cuter when you’re shorter than me.”

Those words turned Yae’s face red again. “C-Cute? There you go again, teasing me. If anything, you’re the cute one now.”

To emphasize her point, Yae placed her hand on my head and pulled me toward her chest. Though modest in size, they were remarkably soft. “Mph! Hey!”

“W-What am I doing?” Yae let go, having flustered herself further. “Sorry. I don’t know what got into me.”

Rubbing my tingling nose after that experience, I mumbled. “And Takahashi wonders why we’re only childhood friends...”

“Seriously, that was unlike me… How embarrassing...”

I shrugged. “Sensei did say Reduction teaches both the boys and the girls, so maybe this is something you’ve got to figure out.”

Yae put some thought into those words. “Something to figure out? I guess this is deeper than just getting used to different heights.”

“Well, it has taught me that I can count on you to deal with Okazaki. That girl never listens. I was surprised you got her to today,” I complimented Yae as the streetlight turned green and we crossed.

“I was just doing what I thought I should do,” Yae was embarrassed from the compliment.

“Well, that’s good because I’ll have to rely on you all week anyways. You’re fine with that, Yae?”

The girl giggled and began to fiddle with her pink hair clip. “You’d be useless without me anyways, Touya. Even at regular height.”

“Hey, I resent that.” 

The first day of Reduction was coming to an end as the sun set, but there was still 4 more days to go. I had already lost 40 cm in height during school, but I was certain the remainder was going to be even more impactful.

Knock! Knock! Click!

“Touya! Let’s get going. It’s a long walk to school.”

The sound of a knock and a turn of the key told me Yae had arrived. Yae hadn’t been lying about taking care of me. Since my mother was a reporter and my father was a pilot, they weren’t always home. As luck would have it, both were out during my Reduction week. Well, if I were being honest, I may have suggested the date for Reduction week to Sasakura-Sensei.

Nonetheless, they gave the Asano family the key just to make sure I was taking care of myself, and Yae used it to come by. I was ready and waiting for her in the entryway with all my things.

“Uwah. You’ve really gotten smaller Touya,” Yae took a step back upon seeing me.

“I thought that was obvious yesterday,” I answered, looking up.

I tried sounding calm, but the difference in height between us had changed again. After a night’s rest, I was more or less level with Yae’s chest. 

“How tall are you now? Should we check?”

“I already did. I’m 121 cm,” I told her. Having lost 19 cm more since when we walked home, the gap between us had essentially doubled. 

Yae took a step forward to compare. I leaned back to avoid her breasts hitting my face just in time. My neighbor used both her hands to compare her height to my own and was surprised by it.

“I think you’re shorter than Yuri.”

Yuri being Yae’s 8 year old sister, that was not a comparison I wanted to her, but it was probably accurate. I had trouble getting out of my bed this morning due to the sheer size of it and needed a chair to reach the breakfast and lunch bentos Yae and I had bought at the convenience store yesterday. 

“I didn’t think about it until now, but you were around middle schooler height yesterday. I guess you’re primary schooler height today?” Yae asked.

“And getting lower than that too,” I reminded her. “We should probably get to school.”

“Right,” Yae nodded, glancing at the clock. She walked back over to the door and then stopped there to turn around. I saw her extend her hand, waiting for me to grab it.

“Well, this is a first,” I remarked. Typically, Yae was too embarrassed to do anything other than walk behind me.

Realizing what she was suggesting thanks to my words, Yae pulled her hand back. “S-Sorry. I was thinking about Yuri when I-”

“You did say I’m around her height, or shorter even,” I swung my shrunken bag over my shoulder and headed over to the door. “Just don’t treat me like a younger sibling, okay?”

“Y-Yeah. Definitely. Sorry, Touya,” Yae nodded vigorously, also not wanting to consider me as a younger sibling.

“Then let’s go,” I said, walking right under Yae’s arm to head outside. There was no need to wait for her to move when I fit right beneath her.

Yae nodded and walked out with me. She locked the door to my house back up, put my house’s spare key back in her blazer pocket, and we began to go. I started first, but Yae quickly caught up with me to the point where we were walking side by side despite me power walking.

I sighed, wondering what the second day of Reduction was going to be like. I also had to go see Sasakura-sensei later as well. At the very least, all of the homework I had wasn’t due until next week because our teachers couldn’t be bothered the grade shrunken papers.

Yae and I continued down the path so that we could get to the main road to the school.

Just before we did, however, there was one request Yae couldn’t resist making after deliberating the entire walk about it.

“Um… Touya, actually, can I hear you call me ‘Onee-chan’ while you’re like this? Just once?”

“Rejected.”

I refused. The roughly 40 cm difference between us wasn’t going to change that.

(6) Day 2 A Reduced School Day (123 cm > 112 cm)

The primary schooler comparison Yae made before was right. The high school desks weren’t built for my stature at all, or any of us boys. At 118 cm, my feet were dangling off the floor when I sat down on the school desks. The same went for all of the other boys. The last time I ever had that experience was when I was a little kid. Well, compared to everyone else, we really were the size of kids.

“Pfft!” I could hear a few of the girls trying to hold back their snickers and giggles when they came in and saw us boys sitting down. We must have looked like elementary schoolers trying to act like high schoolers.

Yae, too, wasn’t immune. She tried her best to hide her face behind a book, but she was trembling holding back. It must have been a hilarious sight. Us boys had to get used to it unfortunately, as did the girls. When class began, none of the teachers bothered with the complaints because there was nothing they could do either.

Observing was definitely interesting, though. Honda forgot her textbook so she had to share with Nakano. The boy was more than a little intimidated by Honda’s proximity and at two-thirds his regular height. Though she was a wallflower, Honda had a bombshell body, and it was only emphasized to us due to how big she was proportionally now. Just comparing how much of the chairs they sat in they took up made it obvious. Honda actually pulled a lot closer to him because his textbook had also shrunken with him too. The smaller text made the glasses girl have to get even closer just to see. She seemed oblivious she was pushing her chest into his head.

“Um… Honda-san?”

“Sorry. Let me just do this, Nakano-kun. It’s hard to see...”

“Okay, but they’re touching.”

“Huh? Ah! Kyaa! S-s-sorry!”

During math class, Arai’s girlfriend, Watanabe, acted up in class as usual, kicking Arai’s chair in front of her to get his attention. Normally, he would turn around and start chatting with her, earning the teacher’s annoyance, but because of how light he had gotten, Watanabe didn’t realize and kicked too hard, sending him falling off his chair with a loud crash. She panicked and got teary-eyed, ruining her makeup. She hugged him tightly until Takahashi did her duty as the substitute health representative and took them to the nurse.

All the while, we boys were definitely getting smaller. 6 cm slipped away from me until I was 112 cm in history class. Those 6 cm made a difference because my straight-line field of vision had dropped below Takahashi.

Though Takahashi was 170 cm, she was constantly sleeping so she usually had her head flat on the table with her book raised up. Though the teachers complained, she always knew the answers, so they eventually let her. I was actually happy about this because I had a clear view of the board, at least until now.

I tried kicking her awake, but I had gotten short enough that my legs no longer reached her chair. I heard and spotted Yae giggling at my failed attempt. Having to still attend class while shorter was certainly becoming a difficult task. Seeing nothing but Takahashi’s back, I stretched upwards to see past her, but that only served to strain my muscles. I considered standing up in the chair, but that would be too obvious and embarrassing. 

Turning to my right, I saw the correct method of what to do from Eguchi. If it was too difficult to look forward or over, we could look around. I had to lean my body to the side, but I was able to see the board by peering around her.

This was the tactic we boys employed that day, and we were successfully able to adapt to our reduced height.

Unfortunately, as Yae told me later, the girls who had saw the whole thing had abdomen pains from holding in their laughter from how adorable it looked.

“Sensei, we’re coming in.”

“Ah, thank you for bringing him, Takahashi.”

“No, I brought her, Sensei. Takahashi was stumbling around too much after waking up.”

Though I had given Takahashi my job as the health committee representative for the week, meeting with Sasakura-Sensei was something only I could do because of how closely I worked with her. Sensei advised I bring Takahashi along, however, so she could listen in.

We did so after Sensei measured my height and weight.

“Yup. Everything seems to be as expected. Still, 108 cm, huh? That’s some number. If my math is right, that means everyone must like around 3 m tall to you boys,” Sasakura-sensei grabbed her mug of coffee and gestured for me to take a seat on the high stool. I had to use the base as a step to get up, and, once again, my legs dangled above the ground.

Even with the height of the stool I immediately realized, I was still looking up at Takahashi and Sasakura-sensei.

“So how’s the second day been?” she asked. “Any observations and advice you’d like to share with me?”

I gestured to Takahashi who reached into my shrunken book bag which she was carrying and she took out my blue notebook. The standard sized notebook now was more of a pocket notebook to her. “Here you go,” Takahashi handed it to the nurse.

“I wrote down all of my thoughts and anything I could. Does that help?”

Flipping through it quickly, Sensei then closed the notebook and nodded. She then reached over and placed her hand on my head, ruffling my hair.

“Yeah. Not bad. You did a good job, so let me just go make a copy of this and I’ll give it back to you,” she said.

“Sensei, don’t treat me like a kid,” I tried to pry Sensei’s hand off, but it was able to envelop my entire head. It hurt more to fight it than to let her pat my head.

“You kind of are one right now, height-wise,” Takahashi remarked.

“Sorry, but this is commonplace during days 2 and 3,” Sensei said as she walked away to the copier. “You’re around the perfect height for it is the reason why.”

Yawn.

“I can’t argue with that,” Takahashi agreed with a yawn. “You’re a bit too short now for me to use you as a chin rest, but maybe a body pillow would work. Want to try it out?”

I glared at Takahashi, but she dismissed it since I had no way to argue with her unless I wanted to jump off the stool and be level with her stomach. Instead, I used my ultimate counter.

“I know Yae was fine with it yesterday, but I think a body pillow might make her a little jealous. You wouldn’t want that, would you?”

“You play dirty,” Takahashi pulled back. “I know the two you are a thing, which is why it bugs me you’re not dating yet. Take responsibility and take good care of her, you hear?”

“Of course I will.”

“What is this, a meet-and-greet with the in-laws?”

Sasakura-Sensei returned with my notebook. She laughed at our chat and sat down in her computer chair, taking a sip of her coffee. 

“In any case, you two, let’s talk,” she told us. “Kirishima, I don’t expect you to be able to do much after tomorrow, so Takahashi, we need to get you up to speed on all the health committee duties. I expect you’ll be helping out more in the future, so you might want to take notes like Kirishima’s been.”

“Are the next three days that bad?” Takahashi asked my question for me.

Sensei sipped her coffee. “Well, once he’s small enough, I won’t be able to read his notes until the week’s over. Also, there’s a certain aspect about Reduction that he’ll have to get used to, so I doubt he’ll be having any sway in getting time for himself.”

“Sway? What do you mean by that, Sensei?” I asked.

“You’ll figure it out,” Sensei chose not to properly answer. “In any case, because you guys are only the first class of the year going through Reduction, I want proper details on the experience. Be thorough on any observations, troubles, and concerns you have. Kirishima, when this week’s done, I’ll have you pull over-time so we can improve this for the other classes.”

I nodded. Trying to get these programs more organized was a difficult job for Sasakura-sensei which was why I was helping out. As Sensei debriefed Takahashi on everything, I steeled myself. Preparing for tomorrow was going to be a necessity because after tomorrow was when all of the arrangements we boys had to make would become necessary. 

(8) Day 2 Shoes and Pillows (108 cm>100 cm)

6 more centimeters disappeared before the day ended. At the shoe lockers, I struggled to reach my locker which was second from the top. Suddenly, I felt a shadow over me as Yae stood behind me. Turning around I met her stomach and was quickly knocked back into the locker by it slamming into me when she hopped up and forward to open it.

“Wow, Touya. Your shoes are so small now,” she was surprised when she took them out. She put them on the floor and stepping back. Seeing me rubbing the back of my head, she realized what had happened. “Wah! S-Sorry about that. I didn’t realize. Did I hurt you?”

“There was some weight behind that,” I mumbled. “Yae, maybe you want to go on a diet, no what am I saying, you need to eat more to get taller.”

“...It looks like you’re okay,” Yae realized I was fine enough to jokingly insult her. She had a question on her mind, however. “Still, how did these shoes shrink when you were wearing indoor shoes today?”

“All of my things were reduced at the same time, that includes both pairs of shoes,” I explained.

“I see. I didn’t think it’d go that far,” Yae was impressed. She then began taking off her shoes and opening her locker.

As she did, I approached my shoes that Yae had gotten for me. She was right that they were smaller because they were for my reduced size, but in comparison to Yae’s indoor shoes which were right next to them, I realized they were less than half as small as Yae’s own pair. I couldn’t even say they were fit for a primary schooler, more like a baby. This was another way I discovered Yae dwarfed me now.

This made me curious about Yae’s indoor shoes. Getting closer to them, it seemed unreal to think it belonged to a petite 160 cm girl like her. I had room to spare when I put my foot inside them. They were more like a prop for a gag.

Noticing this, Yae giggled at the sight of me. “Touya, what are you doing? I need my shoes, please.”

“Just realizing you have big feet. How do you walking these clown shoes?” I joked, taking my feet out of her indoor shoes so she could pick them up high over my head. 

“... You’re on a roll with the insults,” Yae frowned. I watched as she put her indoor shoes in the locker above my head and grab her loafers with one hand. Instead of putting them on, however, she put her free hand on her hip and looked down at me. I immediately felt like a child in front of her as she gave me a disappointed look. “Are you done yet, Touya?”

“It’s a coping mechanism,” I was honest. “Just let me have this. You and Takahashi have been poking fun at me.”

“I guess you’re right. Fair’s fair,” Yae put down her loafers and adjusted her black thigh highs before she put her shoes on. I put mine on as well and we began to leave. I pushed myself to remain in pace with Yae as she walked.

The road home was uneventful but long. I was certain it was taking us longer to get home.

“I wonder how much different tomorrow’s going to be like,” I told Yae when we crossed the street.

I saw Yae give my whole body a once over as we walked. “I don’t know. Yesterday and today have already been surreal enough. Touya, isn’t it even stranger for you?”

“You have no idea,” I told Yae. “I’d say it’s like a dream, but getting bumped by you earlier hurt, so it definitely isn’t.”

“I still doesn’t feel real to me,” Yae laughed nervously. “It somehow feels like we’re growing further apart this week too. You’re holding back a lot more and you’ve been with Aoi-chan all day today.”

“Shrinking apart,” I corrected. I wasn’t holding back. I was just being a lot more cautious due to my smaller height. I could definitely feel my height getting less and less after having gotten used to the Reduction more. I had checked how tall I was compared to Yae’s stomach earlier and I suspected I had lost another 2 cm as we walked home. “And you’re not jealous, are you? I just got done with talking with Takahashi about not making you jealous.”

“Yes, a little,” my childhood friend bluntly admitted. She was pouting with her cheeks puffed. “Did Aoi-chan do something earlier?”

“She wanted me to be her body pillow,” Much like Yae, I told the truth. “I refused and said you’d get mad if she did. I’m glad she listened.”

“A body pillow?” Yae repeated as we passed turned the corner into our neighborhood.

“She said I was the right size for it. That girl certainly gets some crazy ideas,” I continued walking but Yae stopped. I noticed this only after I had finished speaking. “Yae?”

Looking up into Yae’s eyes, I saw her looking me up and down.

“Body pillow, huh?” she repeated again. “I sort of see that. I’m jealous Aoi-chan can so easily think about getting so touchy-feely like that.”

She clearly wanted to do it - to use me as a body pillow. Those were not the friendly eyes of my neighbor. Those were the sparkling eyes of a girl with desires.

“Um… You want to give it a shot, Yae?” I offered. A primal feeling inside me told me I’d be better off allowing it rather than ignoring or denying her.

“Eh? Can I?” Yae stepped forward but caught herself before right as her arms extended forward. She was raring to go.

“You did something similar yesterday without asking, didn’t you? You didn’t know why but you still wanted to do it, right? Looks like it’s the same today.”

“A-Ah… Right, I did, didn’t I?” Yae seemed to have tried to forget about the embarrassment.

“Doesn’t look like anyone else is around so if we make this quick, I guess it’d be fine,” I sheepishly told her, dropping my things at my feet because I knew what was going to happen. “Let me just say this first though, you’re the only one to do this and this is a one time thing, okay?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “If you’re giving me permission then I guess I’ll accept”.

“Okay then. So let me ju-” Before I could finish my sentence, Yae’s arms wrapped around me pulled me into her chest. I immediately found my feet off the ground as Yae pulled me into a tight hug. My face was smothered in her chest while my arms were locked in place by the sheer strength of her skinny arms.

That bear hug was more than what I expected from Yae. The difference in power between us was made clear because my arms could not budge and my legs dangled in the air as Yae held me tight. To think losing nearly 80 cm of my height turned me helpless against Yae’s embrace - there was nothing I could do but wait until she tired of the hug.

It was warm and soft despite how tightly I was being held. Yae’s arms kept my head from moving anywhere except for into her breasts. Though Yae was treating me as a pillow, I felt I was experiencing the real pillowy feeling. I could hear her heart while pressed against it, and the heat from her body was spreading into me.

“Mmph! Yae! Can’t breathe!” my muffled voice spoke into Yae’s right breast.

My words reached Yae but she didn’t actually hear it. Rather, she felt it as my breath and saliva on her chest. She let go, causing me to fall to the ground. I thankfully landed on my feet.

“Oof. Wonder if that’s going to leave a mark,” I wondered, realizing just how tightly Yae had been holding me. My circulation was close to being cut off. Looking up at my childhood friend, I could see a satisfied expression on her red face. “Well, how was it?”

“Aoi-chan was right. That was a good height for a hugging pillow,” Yae informed me. “Thank you, Touya. That was enjoyable.”

I wondered if it would be a good idea to put that down in the notes for Sasakura-sensei, but decided to ponder that thought later. Picking up my things, I gestured at Yae.

“Well, that was a one time thing since I’ll be smaller tomorrow. Come on, we should get going before people come by.”

“Coming, Touya.”

“Touya, it’s time to get going,” Yae walked into the bathroom through the open door as I was getting off the stepstool I had used to get up to the sink.

70 cm was how tall I was. There was a massive difference between Yae and I now, and by that I meant I was beyond half her height. The top of my head was below her waist and the first thing I could see looking forward was the edge of her skirt.

“W-Wow,” I couldn’t stop myself from remarking. A Yae who was over twice my height, whose legs were longer than I was tall, was standing right in front of me, blocking my way out of the bathroom. 

“Uwah… How many centimeters did you lose?” Yae was equally as stunned by the difference.

“Sasakura-Sensei said that the reduction rate would pick up, but even I think 30 centimeters is a bit too much,” I answered, trying to calm my nerves. “Sorry for making you wait. It was a bit hard getting ready today.”

Yae saw that the sink up higher than my height and that I was using a step stool. She nodded. “I can see that. So that’s why the bathroom door was open.”

If I closed it, it’d be a hassle to open it again. I had trouble all morning considering I had to jump up to reach the doorknob of my room and then had to scour my home for the stepstool before I could wash my face and brush my teeth. I didn’t have enough time to shower as a result. At least I had gotten dressed.

“So this is why we had to make those arrangements with Sensei,” Yae realized why Sasakura-sensei wanted us to have proper at home care.

“Yup. And that’s why I said I’ll be relying on you,” I nodded, looking away from Yae’s distracting thighs and fluttering skirt as she swayed left and right while thinking. “I was just finishing up, so can you wait outside for me?”

“Okay,” Yae nodded and stepped out, closing the door with her.

“Hey! Yae! The door!” I shouted. I heard a ruckus outside as Yae stumbled before the door opened back up.

“Sorry. Force of habit.”

I didn’t like to think that a door was becoming an actual barrier for me. After finishing up in the bathroom, I grabbed my sports bag and book bag which were lying out in the hallway. The shrunken belongings had been knocked over by Yae’s heavy footsteps.

I met Yae outside where she held the door open for me and then locked it with her spare key. I tried to keep my gaze away from Yae’s long legs but the pillars in black thigh highs took up most of my view when she was close. This was certainly an optimal height to be flashed as when Yae leaned forward to lock the door, her skirt raised above my head. A sky blue color that wasn’t the sky distracted me.

“All done, Touya,” she told me.

“Great. Let’s get going,” I replied, intent on keeping what I had learned a secret. I power walked ahead so we could get to the main road, and we began our walk to school.

Or rather, run. Though I was power-walking, I found myself quickly overtaken by Yae. Her legs being taller than I was, she accomplished in a single stride double what I could. Though Yae was trying to keep the same pace as me, my pace was slower than hers. When she was distracted and just walking forward, I fell behind her.

“Wait. Slow down, Yae!” I called out, running forward. This was the only way I could catch up. Considering how small I was, Yae was practically a 4 m woman with 2 m legs. I physically couldn’t compare. 

“Eh?” Yae stopped walking when she heard me. She turned to see me run over which still took some time.

“Good. You stopped,” I caught my breath from the dash I had to make.

“Did you get distracted by something, Touya? I was going pretty slowly,” Yae asked.

“I was walking the whole time, but you’re still going... too... fast...,” Facing forward and then looking up at Yae, I frowned. I wasn’t distracted earlier but I was now. The height difference between the two of us was becoming ridiculous. I had lost another 4 cm along our walk, putting my head beneath her skirt. Yae still didn’t seem to realize it yet, at least. 

“I don’t think I can go that much slower without stopping, though, Touya,” frowned Yae. “We’ll be late if I do that.”

“So I’m the slow one,” I turned my head away, trying to avoid trouble from peeking up Yae’s skirt. “Sheesh. I can’t believe I have to run just to keep up with you.”

“I suppose it’s only natural with the way you are now. Maybe you should’ve opted for the Reduction transport Sasakura-sensei talked about.”

“No. I’d still rather walk with you,” I looked up at Yae to tell her that. Her face was certainly far away, as though it were on a second story. 

Instead of feeling flustered or turning red like she usually would, Yae giggled. “Well, if you’re going to try that hard to be with me, maybe I’ll walk normally.”

Walking normally meant her speeding up. “That’s raising the difficulty.”

“Then should we hold hands?” Yae offered, extending her hand to me. She had a gentle smile on her face as she did.

“No…,” I almost accepted but pulled back. “It’ll look like you’re walking with a little kid instead of a classmate.”

“That’s what you kind of are now. Come on. Don’t be shy,” Yae was blunt, but more importantly, she snatched my arm and began to walk, pulling me forward.

“H-Hey, Yae!” I was flustered, but Yae didn’t seem to be at all. Was it because she was treating me more like a kid now? I stumbled as I struggled to follow Yae without being literally dragged around. “This isn’t funny. Aren’t you embarrassed?”

“Fufu… I’m just joking,” Yae stopped for my sake and turned around, revealing a pink tint on her cheeks. “And of course I’m embarrassed. It’s just a lot easier for me to do this when you look like this.”

I wasn’t exactly happy to hear that. That Yae. While the reason why we were still just childhood friends mainly fell on me, her own embarrassment was also another factor. Now that it was Reduction Week, it looked like that embarrassment had quickly disappeared.

“Kyaa!”

I spoke too soon. Yae was about to grab my hand again before a strong gust of wind blew past. She reflexively tried to pull her skirt down but was too slow. The navy blue uniform skirt blew up, giving me a full view of the sky blue I had spotted earlier. I was already looking up but because I was in front of Yae, her panties prominently entered my view. Being their height made it easy to see.

Bending her knees, Yae lowered herself, her ears and face red. I noticed she was still over a head taller than me while squatting down. 

“Y-You saw, didn’t you?” she asked.

“Sky blue,” I couldn’t keep it a secret anymore.

Flustered at having her underwear exposed (not that it wasn’t to me before), Yae stood back up and began power walking to school. She was so embarrassed, she was leaving me behind. Not wanting to be left alone while Reduced, I strained my body to sprint after her.

“Hey, Yae, wait! Don’t leave me behind!” 

She wasn’t the only victim of having her underwear looked at. It was unavoidable now for all of us boys because our vision dropped beneath their skirts. Some of the boys made a noise over it, but it was quickly silenced by the intimidating girls towering over us. Rather than talking to each other classmate to classmate, they treated us like brats.

“C’mon, let’s do something about these perverts,” Tokiwa demanded.

“I know how you feel, but they’re going to keep looking up for the next three days. We can’t really fault them for being that short,” the female class representative, Yoshikawa, had to play the middle-man and convince the girls. Yae wasn’t willing to help because she was still sulking from our earlier incident. Unfortunately, the damage had been done. A number of the boys had fallen silent to avoid trouble.

There were a few girls who didn’t mind, actually. Two of Eguchi’s ‘admirers’ were more than willing to show off what they were wearing to him, much to his dismay/delight. I couldn’t tell which he was feeling from his expression. I would have expected Arai’s gyaru girlfriend to be just as open, but following stereotypes was bound to cause me trouble in the long run. I kept silent as I watched Watanabe turn sheepish around Arai, worried he’d see up her skirt. I didn’t know gyarus could be so pure.

The hustle and bustle over underwear being seen was ended quickly, however, when Sasakura-Sensei came into the classroom along with a yawning Takahashi. Takahashi hadn’t been around all morning so it was a surprise to see she had brought the nurse over.

Well, she didn’t. Sasakura-Sensei had already planned to come. When she heard the noise, she shook her head and spoke up.

“Oh, that’s what the ruckus was about? It’s really up to you girls how you want to treat the boys when they’re like this now, but there’ll be trouble if you all don’t calm down. Listen to Yoshikawa. She’s sounded reasonable enough. As for the boys, really, you’re high schoolers. Don’t make such a fuss over seeing panties.”

Sasakura-sensei scolded the girls for getting riled up and the boys for getting excited. She frowned seeing that our homeroom teacher still hadn’t arrived because it should have been her job to fix it instead.

“It’s just a piece of fabric. Get over with. At least none of you are going commando, right? That’d be something to show the boys.”

Sasakura-Sensei made every student turn red and I saw every girl fix their posture and skirts reflexively at her words. She seemed satisfied with her last line, but she still did not leave. After all, that was not why our school’s nurse had come.

To deal with the boys being a third of our size, she had brought large cushions to use as booster seats. As humiliating as it sounds, we actually had to pull ourselves onto the chairs of our desk and if we sat down, it’d be impossible for us to see forward let alone use the desk properly. Though some of us considered standing now, Sasakura-sensei told us to enjoy using it while it lasted.

We relented.

At the very end of it all when she left, Sasakura-Sensei broke the tension enough for the boys and girls to get along again, though I believe it was because the girls were now too busy snickering at the sight of us toddler sized boys on cushions that were much too big for us trying to work at a desk that was now impossible for our shrunken items to fill up.

“This is seriously high up,” I frowned after our first class had ended. Getting down from the chair was not exactly easy unless I wanted to just jump down.

“D-Did you want me to help you?” I heard above me. Turning to my left, I saw Yae playing with her pink hairpin. She was still thinking over what happened this morning.

“If you don’t mind,” I chose to accept. With that, Yae’s hands wrapped around my waist and picked me up off the cushion and lowered me to the floor. I must have been extremely light to her because she did not seem to use any effort at all to pick me up.

Yae also noticed that as she was looking at her own hands. “I can’t believe I just did that.”

“I am a lot lighter while Reduced,” I informed her. “I probably weigh less than a newborn, right?”

“Yes. You’re right.”

“In any case, I need to use the restroom, so if you’ll excuse me,” I told Yae as I began to walk to the door. I realized there was a problem before I was even half way there, however. It wasn’t just my slow walking speed either. It was the fact that I was 57 cm tall according to the makeshift ruler we had taped there earlier in the week. 

“Um… Yae?”

“Huh? O-Oh. The door.”

When I approached the door, even jumping up, I couldn’t reach the handle so I could slide it open. I could see that Yae hadn’t expected the extra step, but she found the sight of me failing to open the door hilarious. I looked up her thick leg and at her distance face to see she was biting her lip to not smile.

“Thanks,” I told her with a smile. “I know you found that funny.”

“Fufu…,” Yae breathed out a quick chuckle. “But are you sure you don’t need help out in the halls? I can come with you.”

“I hope it’ll be fine. At least the restrooms don’t have doors,” I told her. 

I headed out and walked down the hall to use the restroom, at least with the urinals, my height didn’t matter. Using the sink was no hassle this time either as the restroom closest to the class had been set up with a proper step stool for students during Reduction Week.

Walking out in the halls and getting looks and hearing whispers from the students who weren’t in our class was mildly unsettling, but those 2nd years would be going through the same thing soon.

“Ah, shoot,” I found myself up against the same adversary as before again when I got back to the classroom. The door was closed again. I was not going to be able to reach the handle to pull it open and Yae wasn’t with me because I told her I’d be fine.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

“Looks like they can’t hear me either,” I realized my knocks on the lower part of the door were probably being drowned out by the conversations of my classmates inside. What was I going to do? Ask another student in the hall for help?

Stomp.

“Senpai, did you need help?”

I didn’t need to. The familiar shrill voice told me just who was walking by. I didn’t need to turn around to know who it was.

“Yeah I do, but Okazaki, what are you doing here?” I asked.

Okazaki put her hand on the door handle, but didn’t open it. She kept it against there and stepped forward. I turned around and found myself between her and the wall. A minimized wall slam was my best description of the situation I was in. 

I steeled my face muscles and showed no reaction as I looked up.

“It’s no fun when you don’t have a reaction, Senpai,” frowned Okazaki. “Shouldn’t your heart be skipping a beat? I never thought I’d be able to kabedon someone.”

This wasn’t really a kabedon. There wasn’t any romance or shoujo manga cuteness anywhere. I was admittedly intimidated by my now imposing kouhai trying to pin me against the door with her hand and knee, but this being Okazaki, I was less worried about her purposeful actions than her any accidental one’s she’d make. She was enjoying having my attention. The only way to send her the message was to not react.

“Still, this really is amazing. I’ve been out here between classes all week looking at you all. You really are getting smaller.”

I supposed Okazaki was getting a kick out of being taller than others for once. My 145 cm junior was nearly three times taller than me, putting me below her waist. She was beaming and giddy, a terrifying combination on someone who looked almost 5 m tall to me. Her movements had a weight to them.

“You really shouldn’t loiter around just because you like being taller, Okazaki,” I told her. “You’re going to be considered a creep if you keep doing this.”

“Eeh? You don’t think I’m creepy, do you Senpai?” Okazaki opened the door for me, allowing me to enter.

“Put yourself in my shoes. How would you feel about someone just waiting outside your classroom waiting for a chance to pin you against a wall?” Stepping into the classroom, I turned around, looking up at the normally short freshman girl.

“Well, when you put it that way...”

“I appreciate you opening the door for me, but keep things in moderation,” I advised her. “I hope you’re properly helping out Sasakura-sensei.”

“I am,” Okazaki pouted. I could tell Yae was behind me because she then suddenly stepped back out of the classroom, remembering Yae’s scolding from before. “I’ll see you later, Senpai. Don’t get held up by any doors again.”

She really wanted the last word. I couldn’t respond to that. With Yae welcoming me back and asking me what had happened, I could finally relax my facial muscles from trying to act calm. With this, however, I had confirmed that we’d reached the point where leaving the classroom and coming back on our own was now impossible for us boys.

I probably wouldn’t be using any doors for the rest of the week.

The struggles only continued in math class. We boys were stuck on the cushions now that we were all sitting on the pillow booster seats on the desk. Unfortunately, we were still too short to see past the people in front of us. With Takahashi sleeping like usual, all I could see in front of me was her broad back. And this time, peering around her was impossible because as much as I leaned, I was still essentially in the same spot.

I looked around to see that a number of the other boys had given up on trying. I saw a few found work-arounds though. Eguchi was being given notes by his admirer seatmate, Yamaguchi. Nakano was being paid back by his seatmate for letting her use his book the day before as well. It was worth noting that their notebooks were less than a quarter of the size of their seatmates’. The gap between them was also huge seeing as both boys seated on two cushions were only chest high to the girls.

My workaround to not seeing past Takahashi was less offered to me and more thrust upon me by Yae.

“Sensei! Tou- Kirishima-kun can’t see the board,” Yae raised her hand, having seen my struggles and found herself unable to resist opening her mouth.

“He’ll have to get used to it for today. Well, unless you want to help him out yourself, Asano,” Yasuda-Sensei followed the Reduction policy of not helping the Reduced students out so the could experience the week properly. 

“...Okay.” Yae did not take that as a no. I turned to see her stand up and approach me. “Let me help, Touya. Here.”

There was no way I could fight back as Yae picked my 55 cm body up by the waist like a stuffed animal. I grabbed my things in my arms and dangled in the air as Yae walked back to her seat. She then sat me on her lap like a mother holding a baby. I found a soft headrest preventing me from turning my head because it was in between both of Yae’s breasts. 

“D-Don’t move so much,” she blushed. She clearly was pushing herself to do this, but she was certainly enjoying it. 

“Um… Yae, is there any reason why you did this?”

“I just wanted to do this. That’s all,” she answered. After yesterday’s hug, she was probably more open to the physical contact. “I’m sorry for this morning. Is it no good?”

“Well, we’re not dating yet,” I started. I could feel Yae’s muscles tense as she held me. It was clear she was currently stronger than me, so it was a little intimidating, but I continued to speak, unfazed. “But it’s not a bad feeling. I’m sorry, too. And I should be grateful for what you showed me this morning.”

“Touya...” I may have said too much. Yae’s grip on me tightened. 

In the end, I accepted my position in Yae’s arms. Sensei wasn’t bothered by her decision either seeing as this was all a part of Reduction week and Yae was helping me work. I sighed and relented, holding my notebook in one arm and writing in the other. I copied Yae’s notes as she wrote them down in front of me on a notebook. It was easy to see because the entire notebook was larger than any poster to me.

“Sheesh, you two sure are taking advantage of this week,” I heard Takahashi’s voice. I turned to see her with her head on her desk turned towards us.

“Now you wake up.”

The remainder of the classes were less of an issue compared to the first few. Yae wouldn’t let me leave her lap and held me close even during the breaks. She had wanted to make up after earlier this morning, but it also seemed like she was starting to enjoy being able to hold me close. I tried to get her to let me go, but she chose to ignore me whenever I made that particular demand. 

Since I was stuck, Takahashi took the opportunity to poke fun at my expense, pinching my nose from a safe distance where my flailing arms couldn’t reach her. She laughed mentioning she had done the same to Okazaki but it was more satisfying with me. The two seemed to have started getting along since Okazaki wanted to hear more about me while Takahashi wanted more information she could hold over me.

As for lunch, I was thankful Yae shared her meal with me because I did not want to go buy mine at this size. It was a consequence of being unable to get ready in time this morning as well as a reward. Yae held me against her as she reached into her bag to take out her bento. I expected her to just divide up a portion for me, but instead, Yae tried to feed me.

“Okay, Touya. Say Aaaah~n.”

“Um… Yae… I can eat on my own.”

Honestly, I’d have normally been enthused, if also embarrassed, but my current size made Yae seem like a mother trying to feed a baby. I was pulled back, wanting to refuse. Unfortunately, by doing that, I wouldn’t be able to eat. 

“... It’s a little surreal, but I think I like this Touya... In fact, I think I’m getting used to you being smaller now. Are you sure you don’t want me to feed you?”

“I’d be over the moon normally, but like this? I’d rather not. Come on, Yae. I can eat on my own.”

“... You can? Well, if you don’t want to, then go ahead and try.”

Yae literally pulled the lunch box away from me when I shook my head. My reach had shrunken with my height, so she was leaving me no choice but to let her feed me.

“Fufu~! Kirishima-kun, she really has you where she wants you.”

“Shut up, Takahashi. Yae, you’re being way too forward here...”

“I know… But I can’t help it,” Yae blushed. “This feels natural somehow, Touya. So please? Just once? Aaah~n.”

“At least I’m not the only one...” I gave up. This must’ve been one of desires Yae and the girls were awakening to with us at this size. Eguchi was in the same boat as I was with Yukimura holding him tightly in her grasp while the other girls fed him. “Aah...”

“And the baby boy gets fed.”

The yawning Takahashi really was testing my patience. Well, at least Yae happy. If this was what she called getting used to my height, I wondered if she’d get even less hesitant as I got smaller though. Lunch was light on the events in any case, but it really highlighted my inability to fight back against Yae’s demands. It really hit home that I had gotten physically weaker.

Speaking of physical, one course that stood out to me was physical education. Though the day before hadn’t had anything noteworthy, I had to admit me being 52 cm tall put things in an all new perspective. There were a few differences as to why.

The first difference was with changing. Normally, the girls changed in the classroom while we boys moved to a different classroom, but it was switched today because it would take too long for us to travel to the other classroom according to Kawamura-sensei. The trip to the gym still took us a while, however. We boys must have been a sight, our small forms walking through the halls where the doors were all propped open for our sakes.

The second difference was, of course, the height difference between the boys and girls. The gym was reserved for just our class because of the Reduction Week program, so when we entered, we saw all of the girls already there in their shorts and athletic clothes.

I think Fujimoto described the sight best. “Damn. It’s like a forest of bare legs.”

Comparing the girl’s legs to trees was fairly accurate in my opinion because of our 52 cm bodies. The thickness of their legs were comparable to tree trunks and we could walk right in between them without needing to bend or duck. They probably wouldn’t notice if we were quiet enough too as we were completely below their line of sight. The girls were as tall as houses to us after all. 

The third difference was surprisingly not the sports we would be playing. Kawamura-sensei told us we’d all be starting to play basketball. I would have thought that while Reduction Week was going on, that was an impossibility for us boys. The balls were around half our height and the hoops were far higher up than before to us. However, Kawamura-sensei told us she was prepared.

This was what the third difference really was: the courts.

While the girls would be playing in the regular basketball courts, we boys had a makeshift one for the day. There were several plastic adjustable toy basketball hoops and toy basketballs in a proportionally smaller court lined with tape.

“A friend of mine from overseas sent them a bunch over a few years back. I brought the one I let my little boy use at home too. This should work for the day,” Kawamura-sensei proudly informed us.

So we would be playing a toddler’s version of basketball while the girls would be on the actual courts. The difference was more than a little embarrassing to consider, but Kawamura-sensei seemed to think it was a great idea. She sent us off to play, and play we did.

“Touya-kun, pass!”

“Nakano! I’m open!”

“Kirishima, Eguchi-kun, over here!”

Despite the initial humiliation, once you think about it, a basketball game is still a basketball game. We boys would still be willing to play. The exercise and sweat were also a great way to relieve the stress and our worries. We just had to adjust to the lighter toy ball and the colorful, plastic hoops.

“Ah whoops.”

Crash!

We also had to adjust to the fact that the girls were still nearby. While going to retrieve the basketball she had sent out of the court, Honda’s butt bumped into one of the hoops and it fell to the ground. It was hard to see when it was below her line of sight, but the clumsy glasses girl then stumbled into our court trying to put it back up, towering over all of us while giving us boys a fair view of her legs and admittedly plump rear end.

Backing away was for the best, but we had to rely on Honda to readjust the height of the net because we were too short to. Someone had to get close to show her how because she was still panicking from her mistake.

We elected her seatmate: Nakano. 

With the game temporarily halted, I took a break on the sidelines for a moment. I watched the gentle love comedy that was apparently forming between Honda and Nakano as Honda slipped on the smooth floor and fell butt first on Nakano. I could tell that it must have been a heavy impact. Honda apologized while Nakano was instead thanking her. When it seemed like they were building a mood, Tokiwa and Hozuki called her back to the girls’ court, complaining about her being so slow.

I felt a mix of pity and interest in what was going on when there was a heavy thud behind me. I turned to see the back of a knee. Looking up, I didn’t see a face. It was just a bare leg raised high up. Glancing down, I saw Takahashi was on the floor, having raised her leg up to stretch it. Yae was also approaching, her figure getting higher and higher in my field of view until she got to us.

“Exhausted already, Aoi-chan?” Yae sighed.

“I’m not… made for… sports...” the normally sleepy girl moaned, dropped her leg swiftly, slamming it hard on the ground. I felt the floor shake from the heavy (relatively) impact.

“You were only playing for five minutes.”

Five minutes. She certainly had little stamina. It may have been because of her comparable stature, but the first thought I had was that I expected her to be a lot tougher even though I was already acquainted with how unathletic she was.

Standing beside Yae’s pillar of a leg, I looked down at the massive Takahashi. “So even the sleepy genius has a weakness,” I smirked. That smirk disappeared when Yae sat up. Even while sitting down, she was taller than me, and of course, stronger. Just because she lacked stamina didn’t mean she had less strength than little old me. She placed her hand on my head, completely engulfing my face with her palm. I had lost another 2 cm during class so it became even easier for her to do so.

“Give me a break… It’s a weakness, but you’re not making use of it today...” the out of breath Takahashi pushed me back gently, but it was still enough force to make me stumble 3 steps back.

“Come on, Aoi-chan. Stop that,” frowned Yae. She then turned to me with her hands behind her back. Leaning forward, she asked, “Is Sensei’s toy court fun, Touya? It’s really surreal watching you all play like that.”

“You’re telling me… It’s like watching toddlers playing a professional game… It’s weird…” Takahashi remarked.

I didn’t like the comparison, but I suppose the height difference was made clear whenever any of the girls went by the boys’ court. The fact that we were around the lower half of their thighs in height really drove home that we were the size of infants to them. 

“It’s not too bad to play like this at least,” I shook my head. “We’re at least more used to playing the game than you girls.”

“I won’t deny that for the two of us,” Yae giggled. “But if we went up against each other right now, we’d at least win, right? Even with Aoi-chan being Aoi-chan..”

“That’s unfair to put it that way. You can literally walk over to our net and drop the ball in. And if we played on your court, none of our throws would get high enough,” I frowned at Yae’s suggestion. I could bob and weave through her legs but if she held the ball to her chest, I’d never reach it.

“... I’m all for an unfair advantage...” Takahashi admitted, standing up. “I don’t think you’d be a match against two pretty, strong girls like us, Kirishima-kun.”

Strong, she said. Unathletic is what I’d say. Yae had a small build and Takahashi led a sedentary life-style. Neither of them were sports club members for a reason. On a normal basis, I’d be unimpressed by her remark, but this week wasn’t normal. With their legs alone taller than I was, it looked to me as though both of them had vastly more muscle and strength than my twig like arms and legs. Takahashi had a presence she knew she could flaunt over me.

“It’d be an easy game at the boys’ courts. I could just stand in one place and win,” she smiled down at me. “Can we make this game happen?”

“I don’t think we’d all fit on the boy’s court though,” Yae put some thought into the idea. “Maybe two girls against five boys?”

“Please don’t damage our pride like that.” It was true that our courts were proportionally much smaller, but I hoped Yae was just playing along and not being serious. However, my words were ignored as the conversation above me continued between the two giant girls, leaving me stuck between their legs looking up.

“If that’s the case, we’d take up one half of the court each and just hand it to each other over their heads. Then we wouldn’t have to worry about any dribbling.”

“Girls,” I called them.

“That does sound easy, Aoi-chan. And I guess we’d just reach down to take the ball?”

“Girls, c’mon,” I jumped up and waved my arms out but neither of them looked at me.

“Ergh… That sounds like that’d be a pain on my back though. Is it against the rules to kick with my legs?”

“You two can’t be serious,” I shouted, I gave a smack against Yae’s pillar of a thigh but then had to move out of the way when she shifted about in thought. She seemed to really like the idea.

“I don’t know actually. Maybe we should ask Sensei if we can arrange a game?”

Tweeeeeeeet!  

I was actually thankful for the sound of a whistle in the distance caught our attention. It stopped my two friends from getting too into their conversation talking over my head about their idea to play an unfair game of basketball against us much shorter boys. 

Kawamura-sensei was pointing at the three of us.

“What are you three doing just chatting!? Asano and Takahashi! Three laps around the gym! Kirishima! One lap!”

“Oh no. Looks like we’ve been caught,” frowned Yae.

“Eh? Why three for us?” Takahashi balked at the thought of more physical exercise.

“It’s probably because I’m smaller,” I answered. Now they looked at me because I was technically being given a lighter sentence. 

“That’s still not fair, Touya. I’m slow at running, you know that,” Yae didn’t approve of my grinning. 

“Let’s just get it over with.” I accepted the punishment and started to run first. At the very least, Yae and Takahashi were getting what I considered to be karma for ignoring me. “Sorry, girls, but I’ll be going on ahead.”

“Eh? Hey, Kirishima-kun, don’t just ditch us like that!”

“Touya! Wait! Let’s catch up, Aoi-chan!”

“Eh? Hold on.”

I didn’t wait and gave myself a head start. I appreciated the two fewer laps and would say that I was glad to be smaller for once. Though I was proportionally smaller now, I was still more athletic than Yae and Takahashi. I wouldn’t have to rely on my endurance and stamina as much to clear one lap unlike the girls who had three. It’d still finish before them despite the handicap.

… Is what I thought before a leg immediately arched over me. It was inevitable that Yae would catch up to me, but I didn’t think that within just three steps, Yae would already clear the distance I had crossed.

“Hah! Got you!” Yae exclaimed as she ran past me. I had to stumble out of the way because she ran past me, my body easily slipping between her long, towering legs. It was like going under an overpass, one made of legs over 2 m tall.

“Grk!” I grit my teeth as I saw Yae stick her tongue out at me. She hadn’t appreciated my head start. 

“Hah… That was easier than I thought,” Yae realized and decided to slow her pace. Even then, she was still ahead of me. “It looks like I’ll be the faster runner for once.”

“This is hurting my pride,” I grumbled. This was worse than this morning because I actually had a head start this time. Given that her legs were longer than I was tall, I knew it was to be expected, but experiencing being overtaken so easily was surprisingly more humiliating than just thinking about it. 

I didn’t have time to think further, though, as Takahashi’s leg stomped beside me as she jogged by, causing me to stumble further off course. “Serves you... right...,” she said between heavy breaths. “If we’re getting... three laps... you can bet we’ll… lap your tiny butt.”

Even with her poor stamina and pace, Takahashi also pulled ahead of me. I scowled and picked up the pace. To avoid those girls showing me up further, I’d have to finish my one lap before they finished their three. No, I’d have to push harder so they wouldn’t lap me at all. Was this going to be possible?

The increasing gap between Yae’s position and my own told me otherwise. I was under a third of my height so the entire gym was over three times bigger. I was at a disadvantage against the two titanic girls who could clear in one step what I needed four for, but in spite of this, I was still going to try.

I had to at least beat Takahashi even if I exhausted myself doing it.

By the end of the day, exhaustion set in both mentally and physically. At the shoe lockers, Yae took both my shoes and her shoes from her locker and placed both of our indoor shoes in there as well. She actually placed my still shrinking shoes into her own pair, saying they wouldn’t get lost that way. I believed she just wanted to see what having a tiny pair of shoes inside her own shoes would look like because she was giggling as she did it. I didn’t argue since I couldn’t exactly reach my shoes up where she stood anymore.

I stood at her knee watching the towering giant school girl slip her feet into shoes that were over half my height. Yae had gotten used to us boys looking up her skirt throughout the day, or at the very least, me. She wasn’t reacting poorly to the fact that I was right between her legs looking up. In fact, she seemed to accept it. After lapping me during our physical education class, she had grown satisfied with being physically superior. I wanted to argue that I finished my lap before her three, but she didn’t care. Overtaking me during my head start and again before I could finish my lap had satisfied her. At the very least, Takahashi just barely was unable to lap me, but I disliked how close it was despite the girl alternating between running and walking. I still didn't like how I had pull out so much effort just to beat the sleep-loving girl.

“47 cm is one crazy height to be at,” I mumbled. I wondered what was the magic number where Yae went from tall girl to giant because while we certainly still treated each other normally earlier, it felt difficult to do so now. I considered being knee height to be around the range.

Yae couldn’t hear me clearly as she placed both my shrunken sports bag and book bag into the outside pocket of her bookbag. She took a step back to see me because her skirt was blocking her view. “What did you say, Touya?”

“I said this is a crazy height!” I raised my voice.

A giggle escaped Yae who knelt down to get closer to my height (while still towering over me). “I guess you did lose a lot of your height in one day. You were a bit lower than my waist this morning.”

And now I was around her knees. The perspective made Yae seem less like my childhood friend and more like a moving statue likeness of her. She was as immovable as one to me as I couldn’t fight her hand that reached to grab me. Yae no longer bothered with using both hands because of how light I was. I grit my teeth as Yae raised me up. Though she intended to do so slowly, it was still a rapid ascent to me, causing my stomach to churn. I was lifted up and off the ground like a doll. I was still bigger than one, at least, so Yae actually used her other hand as well to hold me afterwards to prevent herself from shaking me unintentionally.

I wondered how I must have looked to Yae. This was not an experience I ever thought I’d have, being held in the hands of my childhood friend. I had to remind myself I was only around 160 cm high up. Unfortunately, the height was more akin to a fall from the top of the school building. 

“This is your last chance to join the other boys who are going to the Reduction dorm,” Yae warned me, reminding me of where I’d be going if I hadn’t opted out. 

I was certainly tempted. I couldn’t stop my dangling legs from trembling when faced against my giant classmate. I was at Yae’s mercy since she was the one taking me home. Her fingers weren’t the dainty, thin fingers I was used to. They were thicker than the giant rope we used for the sports festival tug of war and they wrapped around me with great pressure despite Yae not even squeezing. I was already clearly helpless against her firm grip, but I was still getting smaller as well. At this size, it was clear that I was shrinking every moment because every centimeter I lost now made a bigger difference in my height, including the one I was currently losing. I was getting even more powerless.

“I already told you I trust you, Yae,” I raised my voice to let her know. I was thankful my hands were still free because I could give her thumb a pat. Though I would have preferred it to be her head, it was impossibly far away despite being so close at the same time. “There’s only two more days, so let’s get through this.”

“But you’ll be with my family today, though,” Yae was still trying to convince me to refuse. “Otou-san’s still in Hokkaido, but Yuri and Okaa-san will still be around.”

“Isn’t that normal? And we did get your mom’s permission. We’ve slept over before.”

“When we were kids. I mean, I’d like you to visit, but if it’s like this then...,” Yae frowned and drifted off. “There’s no way you’re saying no, is there?”

“You know, if you really didn’t want me, you’d just have to drop me and leave without saying a word. Then Okazaki or someone would find me, and maybe I’d be lucky and get dropped off with Sasakura-sensei. If not, I don’t think you’d be able to find me tomorrow,” I stated the worst case scenario I didn’t want to happen because I knew it wouldn’t.

“Y-You’re mean for making me imagine that,” Yae gave up with a somewhat happy smile.

“So where are you putting me?” I asked. “It’s already sunk in that I don’t have a say in this but can you please keep it comfy.”

“Touya, please don’t make this weirder than it already is,” Yae asked, having mixed feelings about literally having me in her hands.

Where Yae chose was the safest place she could think of. She placed me atop the shoe lockers for a moment as she reached into her book bag. She then revealed a paper bag with the logo of a familiar manga-packed bookstore. She opened up the empty bag and then began crumpling balls of tissues and placing them into the bag.

“Oh, I see. That should be a cushy ride.”

“I hope so,” Yae replied. She then held the bag up to me, placing the opening of the bag right in front of me so that I could jump in. “There, you can get in here, Touya.”

“Here goes nothing then!” I shouted and hopped in. I landed softly without any issue. I found myself covered by orbs of white fluff and thick brown walls that did not let the light shine through. The only light came from above where the opening of the bag was. It was quickly blocked out, however, by Yae’s face as she looked down.

“This is still so surreal that I’m walking you home like this, Touya.”

It really was. I was being carried around like a recent purchased item from a store.

“Do you hate it then, Yae? That smile tells me you’re liking this.”

“Smiling? Um… Well… I don’t know. It feels like I’ve been a lot brighter today for some reason.”

Didn’t I know it. Reduction may have reduced just us boys, but it was clear the girls were starting to adapt to the change too. Yae’s and my relationship being what it was, I wondered if Yae was getting more expressive because of it. 

“Well, let’s get going,” she told me. And when she did, I felt my stomach lurch. She lowered the bag down to relax her arm. Shortly after, though, the bag began to move. It swayed forwards and backwards. Yae was naturally swinging her arm as she walked. I sunk into the pile of tissues, feeling like I was on an amusement park ride. It even had rough moments whenever Yae took a heavy step, causing the bag to jerk and bounce.

I was seriously being taken home by my childhood friend like a toy. This was an experience I wouldn’t get if I didn’t opt out. While it was definitely scary knowing that I knew nothing of what was going outside the bag, I was glad Yae was fine with caring for me.

“Ah, Yae. Welcome home.”

“I’m home… Um, I brought Touya with me.”

“Touya Onii-chan? Oh! I want to see! Where is he?”

“Yuri, calm down. Yae, is it fine you take him out?”

“Okay. Touya, that’s fine, right?”

It wasn’t like I could reply properly before she did something. After a stomach churning journey to Yae’s house, the motion stopped. I didn’t get motion sickness easily, but the constant swaying and random jerking around caused by Yae’s steps took their toll. I was glad I didn’t vomit. I was still buried in more than a dozen balled up tissues, but I didn’t want to be tossed around in my own throw up.

The light poking through the gaps in the tissues told me Yae had opened up the paper bag I braced myself as a single hand came down and grabbed me. I had certainly gotten smaller over the trip home because Yae’s hand was able to fully hold down both of my arms in her grip. I was pulled out of the bag and into the light. For a moment, my vision blurred due to the sudden change from dark to light. 

I was put down somewhere. Before my vision could refocus, I was blasted by a loud voice that sounded like it came from a megaphone.

“Kyahaha! It’s a doll Onii-chan!”

“Uwah!” I stumbled back and fell on my butt. My eyes snapped open to see a face almost as tall as I was. It took me a moment to recognize who it was. “Y-Yuri?”

“Nishishishi~!” The primary schooler grinned and laughed. She then turned to Yae who was standing right beside her. “Onee-chan, can I play with you and Onii-chan later?”

“I’ll think about it,” Yae answered. I knew she couldn’t refuse her sister however. When she glanced at me, she was essentially alerting me for the future.

“Yay! Onii-chan looks way more fun like this.”

“You can play around after you finish your homework, Yuri,” Yae’s mother firmly declared before bending down at a ninety degree angle just to get closer. Even then, her head was still high above me. “I know I said we were fine with you staying over today, Touya-kun, but this is smaller than I expected. Even smaller than how my co-workers get. Do you need anything?”

“I think I’ll be fine, Ayame-san,” I told her. “Yae knows all the details, and I trust her.”

“Fufu… Did you hear that, Yae? Touya-kun must really trust you if he’s okay with being so small in front of you,” Yae’s mother nudged my childhood friend in the arm. “Don’t take advantage of him now.”

“Okaa-san, not in front of Touya!”

Though Yae had been fairly forward with me all day, being around her family clearly embarrassed her. Standing up, I saw that I was on the empty dining table in the Asano residence. The walls, floor, and ceiling were out of reach while the women of the Asano family stood in front of me. The dining table was up to Yuri’s chest and Yae and Ayame-san’s waists. While Yae started pulling on her mother out of embarrassment, I walk forward to the edge and looked down.

I had gone from 46 cm to 43 during the trip to Yae’s home. The 80 cm drop from the table was more than a little intimidating considering it was a multi-story fall from my perspective, and the heads of the Asano family women were all high above this.

“Are you scared, Onii-chan?” Yuri asked, leaning forward so that her head was directly over top. The 126 cm primary schooler pushed her body against the table so that I couldn’t look down any more. The weight of her body against the edge shook the wooden table. It felt like a powerful earthquake that made my feet unsteady. I was able to keep balance in time to see her give me a satisfied grin.  “Nishishishi~! Did I help?”

“Somewhat,” I answered with a shout.

I was thankful when Yae actually finished talking to her mother. Ayame-san pulled Yuri away and knelt down in front of me. I stepped back as the 173 cm woman’s bosom fell onto the surface I was standing on. The shaking caused by Ayame-san was stronger than Yuri’s and knocked me down.

“Touya-kun,” Ayame-san hadn’t noticed because I got back up while she was changing her posture to kneel down on the floor more easily. “I have told you before that you’re always welcome here, so please make yourself at home as best as you can. You’re pretty much also a part of this family.”

“Thank you, Ayame-san,” I told Yae’s mother, trying to keep my gaze up to her face instead of her chest. I never really looked at Ayame-san too hard, but there was hard to not look at her now. Yae’s father was a lucky man. There were two things that were difficult to ignore when they were right in front of me and larger than exercise balls. “I’ll try not to be a bother.”

“I really doubt you would be in this state, which makes me more worried about what Yae and Yuri could do to you,” Ayame-san wasn’t as trusting of her daughters as I had originally thought. “I’ve read the Reduction program pamphlet, but I really disapprove of their hands-off approach. The training program at my office was a lot more in-depth.”

I thought to get a reference about the program for Sasakura-sensei, but before I could, Yae interrupted and stood between the two of us, giving me a view of her butt as it pressed against the table’s edge.

“Okaa-san, please just leave it to me,” Yae frowned. “I won’t do anything Touya-kun doesn’t want.”

“That’s one thing I’m worried about, but more than that, how do I know you aren’t leading him on?”

“I-I wouldn’t do something like that!” 

The argument continued for some time before Ayame-san realized she had to finish making dinner. Yae picked me up and brought me over to the living room. She placed me on the low table and took a seat on a cushion. Reaching into her bag, she returned my belongings and left. I watched from my vantage point as she grabbed various things from around the living room. While that sounded normal, there was now an incredible span between me and everything else, so waiting for Yae was more akin to spectating dangerous wildlife from a safe distance.

“Oof. That’s a bad comparison,” I told myself. Yae could be dangerous to my frail form, but she was the nicest girl I knew.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Despite my confidence in Yae, I flinched when several things fell onto the table. Yae’s shadow fell over me when her head passed over the window.

“So what should we do in the meantime, Touya?” she asked me while still standing over me, giving me a full view of her the blue panties under her skirt. I looked onto the table to see what she had brought: a remote control, a pack of cards, a board game, a game controller, and a tablet computer. 

“You sure grabbed a lot of things. I don’t think we can do them all.”

“Okaa-san will probably make us do our homework later, but we should have some fun before that,” Yae told me as she removed her pink hair clip and stepped away from the table. When Yae let her hair down, it curled flipped up and curled over her hair. I saw her try to brush it aside, but it went back to its original position. “I’m going to go change, so let me know when I get back.”

“Sure thing,” I told her.

It hit me that I was staying over with my childhood friend. It had been a long time since we slept over at each others houses, probably since we both grew more conscious of each other, me especially. It brought back memories but also emphasized how different things were now, both as we got older and as I was now at the size of a doll.

“Well, let’s just see how this goes.” 

“Oh. how about if I pull this thing?”

“Ah, I can cross over now. Nice job, Touya.”

A slow paced co-operative game was just what the doctor ordered to relax. Though the controller was half my height and heavier than me, I was able to sit down in front of it and use it like a giant arcade machine. With me at 42 cm, it was clunky and I couldn’t use both the stick and the buttons at the same time, but it was workable. As a plus side, the television, while looking more than 5 times as far as it usually would, was also much larger from my perspective - like I was using a cinema screen.

Yae led the way in game while I assisted. It made sense since it was her game that she had purchased with her money, but I was disappointed because I couldn’t do much more. I believed I was slowing her down because of how hard it was to manipulate my character. I made it up for it with my puzzle-solving skills however. We were able to clear a few levels together.

“Ah! No fair!”

Stomp! Stomp!

“Huh? Waah!”

I reacted to late before Yuri entered the room and spotted us playing. She ran over to the front of the table I was on and pointed right at Yae. The powerful stomps of her primary schooler body along with the gust of wind caused by her running over caught me off guard, but I nearly fell off the table when the side of Yuri’s foot accidentally bumped into the table leg when she stopped.

“Onee-chan, why do you get to play games today?” Yuri demanded to know. “Okaa-san said no video games on weekdays.”

“Ah, Touya!” Yae called my name to check that I was okay. I was so she answered her sister. “Touya wanted to play before he got too small. This was a special exception.”

“Uuu,” Yuri pouted. “I want to play with Onii-chan too. I just finished my homework, so can I?”

“I guess s… No, Okaa-san will get mad if I say yes,” Yae was about to relent but stopped herself. “How about if we play something else together? Touya was having trouble with the controller anyway.”

“So I was slowing you down!” I knew it.

I was fine with changing to accommodate Yuri. The little kid could be a handful. I didn’t have siblings, but I could tell being the older sister was something Yae had to grow into.

We changed to the board game Yae had brought out. She spread the game board onto the table and both girls sat on opposite sides. I stood on the board itself among the spinner, dice, and cards. I recognized I had fallen to 40 cm tall because the 20 cm spinner was half my height.

I wanted to quote Yae in that it was a surreal experience playing a board game while on the board. The cards were the size of posters and the plastic spinner looked like a game show spinner as well. Each die fit in my hands like a deck of cards would fit Yae’s. They weren’t too heavy, but they did have a noticeable weight in them when I threw them much like the pieces when I carried mine from space to space. I was getting some exercise from the board game.

All the while, Yae and Yuri were looking down on me with curiosity and interest. I must have looked like a moving toy to them going about the board, putting in an effort to pick up the pieces and cards or use the dice and spinner. They sat above me as 7+ m and 5+ m giants, their hands descending on their turn to do what I was doing with ease.

“Onii-chan, you’re so slow,” Yuri laughed as her hand picked up my piece and moved it for me, bringing it 11 spaces away. I started to walk over to where it was when Yae took her turn and rolled. I heard the thud as the brick sized dice fell from above to my right.

“Five spaces. Let’s see what the card says,” Yae reached past me and over my head to the pile of cards to read it. “Ah. Move a player of your choice back five spaces. Touya, you’re the furthest ahead so that’s going to be you.”

And Yae reached over to move my piece 5 spaces back, changing my destination again. I looked up at her to see her stick her tongue out at me. Though she said it was because I was in first, she clearly wanted to mess with me.

The game continued until Ayame-san called us over for dinner. Yae cleaned up the board game by taking me off the table and pushing everything into the box. I was able to tell from comparing myself to Yae’s chest high bare thigh as she sat that I was around 38 cm tall, meaning I had lost 2 cm while we were playing.

Being brought to the dinner table, I found Ayame-san had placed a chopstick’s worth of everything she had made onto a small dipping sauce tray. This was my plate. Yae placed me on the table beside where she was sitting and moved the plate over to me.

It sure was something to be standing next to a bowl that was up to my stomach. The rice Ayame-san piled on for Yae was up to my chest. If I didn’t know anything about the Reduction, I would have immediately considered the ceramic bowl a Culture Festival prop.

I considered calling Yae a big eater to poke fun at her, but decided it was in poor taste, especially when I realized Yae was eating more than my own weight in food considering my current stature.

The clamboring of the Asano family as they ate became my background noise. Yuri told her mother about all of the fun things that happened at school while Ayame-san inquired with Yae for more details about Reduction. I ate the few grains of rice, the small fragment of chicken, and the chunk of fried eggplant as best as I could. Finishing it was my self-imposed challenge as my pride wouldn’t handle not finishing so little food.

Especially after Yuri said, “Onii-chan, is that going to be enough for you?”

I was glad Ayame-san considered my reduced stomach size.

When dinner was over, Ayame-san made the two sisters do the dishes. I was left on the table where she sat with me. She had with her the Reduction Week pamphlet from the school.

“So… Yae’s getting used to this program, isn’t she?” Ayame-san spoke with certainty. “I bet she’s been getting more touchy-feely with you.”

“Was it that obvious?” I asked. Yae had been careful not to act like she had been in school today now that her parents around, but Ayame-san had noticed anyways.

“I know how the experience goes. And I also know my daughter, Touya-kun,” Ayame-san shoved her finger into my stomach. It felt like being hit by a log.  “I’d be careful if I were you. She might just take advantage of the situation. In fact, I’m sure she will. It’s a natural response to us women as you get smaller.”

“I should be happy about that, but that’s also a little worrying,” I answered, wanting to fight back but the repeated thrusts of Ayame-san’s finger kept shoving me back. Ayame-san sure enjoyed poking fun at the two of us, and it was literal with me.

“You can also consider this as just another lesson in your Reduction Week,” the attacks ceased after I fell onto the table. “Think of it as punishment for making my baby girl wait. At the very least, I don’t believe she’ll do anything extreme, so maybe you should just enjoy things while it lasts. I know she certainly will.”

Enjoy, huh? Ayame-san spoke as though she had experience in the matter, which she probably did as adults like her had also gone through Reduction training in the workplace. I got back up slowly after it was clear that she had finished with her serious chat.

That didn’t mean she was done talking with me, however.

“That aside, I noticed there isn’t anything in this pamphlet about a bath,” Ayame-san changed the subject. “Touya-kun, you aren’t going to be going over the next few days without bathing, are you?”

The motherly scolding face was a lot more persuasive when it took up my field of view.

“Well, I do have clothes in my bag that shrunk with me, but it’s not like I can draw a bath myself. It’s only two more days after this so it shouldn’t be a problem,” I said.

“Are all men like this? Takeshi says the same thing every time he’s in a bathless hotel when on business,” frowned Ayame-san.

“Wah!”

I jerked back as Ayame-san’s hand dropped to my level and her index finger jutted out at me. She didn’t poke me this time, but having her finger directly in front of my face caused me to flinch.

“Your parents may be away, but I refuse to let you ignore your hygiene while you’re in my house, young man,” she told me. “I’ll prepare a warm cup of water. You can have a water bath in private when Yae’s taking her bath. Is that fine?”

“I don’t get to refuse do I?” I asked.

She answered simply by smiling and reaching her hand towards me.

“Is fifteen minutes fine? I’d like to finish things before Yae is done with her bath, so I’ll be back when this timer hits zero. Please get dressed before then.”

That was what Ayame-san told me when she placed a full teacup atop Yae’s desk. I could see the steam coming out of the hot water as I stood near it. Looking up, Ayame-san smiled warmly at me while I stood like a doll in her daughter’s room. The tea cup wasn’t that big, roughly, half my height, but it did seem suitable for a bath due to its size.

“I don’t think soap and shampoo would be easy for you to use at this size, unfortunately,” Ayame-san frowned. “Would you be fine just washing yourself?”

“Ayame-san, you’ve got to be kidding me. I don’t really need a bath.”

I should not have said the second sentence as the moment I did, the woman crossed her arms and glowered at me. I immediately took a step back in worry.

“You shouldn’t say that around me, Touya-kun, unless you want me to wash you myself,” Ayame-san’s hand approached me from the side and grabbed me, immediately sealing the movement of my arms within her grasp. She raised me up to her face and with her other hand, jabbed my cheek with her index finger. “It wouldn’t be hard for me to clean you up in a sink, but I at least want to give you some dignity.”

The smile on her face told me she wouldn’t be leaving me with any dignity if I refused. She was more than happy to scold me, as she always was, but in my current state, her words were a lot more effective thanks to all the power she had behind her now. 

Ayame-san certainly had a lot more experience handling Reduced people compared to Yae, though. Despite being unable to move, I was not in any way uncomfortable. Her grip had just the right amount of pressure to hold me tight without squeezing too hard. The speed at which she raised me up wasn’t dizzying nor was I suddenly jerked around. 

“Please spare me a sink wash. I’d rather not be cleaned like one of Yuri’s dolls.”

“So you will take a bath in that cup then, won’t you?”

“Is there another choice? A bath like this is still kind of embarrassing.”

“Well, I’d suggest joining Yae in the bath right now, but I shouldn’t be offering that to a young man,” Ayame-san teased. “I’m sure you’d enjoy that, Touya-kun. Yae would too.”

Which was why she wouldn’t allow it. We were still underage. Despite taking baths together when we were kids, she definitely wouldn’t let me now. I’d be embarrassed over it too.

“Ah, but, how about one with me?”

“Eh? Ayame-sa- Mpfh!”

Before I could finish even calling her name, I was pushed into Ayame-san’s chest with her hand. I was literally being man-handled as Ayame-san held me close to her bosom gently. Though the softness was incredible, my face was being pressed between the beige sweater and her chest. I couldn’t turn my head so I was choking on wool and heat.

“I wouldn’t mind. It’s nothing your parents or I haven’t seen. Sure, you’re a lot older now, but you’re still a kid to me. And wouldn’t Yae be tomato red if I tell her this?”

“A-Ayame-san, please!” I struggled to shout when the pressure eased up enough. She told me to watch out for Yae, but now I was thinking I was in danger around her.

“Fufu~! Well, if that isn’t a funny reaction,” Ayame-san pulled me away from her chest with a laugh. “I’m sorry, Touya-kun. I was just joking. Of course I wouldn’t do that.”

Was that right? Yes, it was. Ayame-san’s tone had been playful the entire time. Just like how she so easily flustered Yae, she could also fluster me. Yae’s father had a strong character to be able to handle Ayame-san’s straight faced teasing. Or did she just tease us because Yae was her daughter and I was (almost) her son?

Whatever the case, I gave up. “Ok. I get it. I’ll take the tea cup bath. Did you really have to do all that, though?”

Placing me back down, Ayame-san shook her head with a smile. “You and Yae are simply so easy to have fun with. Just because I’m one generation above you kids doesn’t mean I’m a boring parent.”

When did we ever call her that?

In any case, I elected to take my bath after Ayame-san left. Ayame-san set the timer for 15 minutes because she said that would be enough time for me to get dressed and for her to come in and clean up before Yae finished her long bath. 

Reluctantly, while alone in the empty, expansive room, I undressed and soaked in the (slightly cooler now) water. II had heard of oil drum bathing but never tea cup bathing. It was a strange feeling to have what was basically an onsen bath in my childhood friend’s room. It was so spacious that I sure felt like I was outside.

Honestly, being naked in Yae’s room was the stranger feeling. I was fine being 37 cm tall, but I was 37 cm having a soak in a teacup on her table. I could climb out at any time because the cup was only half my height, but I stayed while I had time to collect my thoughts. 

Honestly, it wasn’t so bad.

The temperature of the water was surprisingly perfect. It made me want to go to a real hot spring. Maybe I should have asked Ayame-san to add bath powders and the like to improve the experience, though she did say she was worried about how soaps and shampoos worked at my size.

Speaking of Ayame-san, however, I leaned out of the tea cup over the rim. There was a trace of lip-stick from when she took a sip to check if the water was the right temperature. I didn’t know that the working woman and mother wore lipstick, but it made sense for her job. Honestly, I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t less than a fifth of my normal height. The small trace of lip-stick was barely noticeable to normal eyes.

“The size of this is incredible though. The mark’s almost the size of my palm,” I compared. It was closer to half the size of my face. The moment I thought about that, however, I paused. The thought of Ayame-san’s lower lip being half the size of my face meant both lips would completely cover it. If that was the case, how big would her mouth be? I was just centimeters from it earlier, but I was a bit too preoccupied by her scolding to notice.

I dismissed that line of thinking and got out. I dried off and finished getting dressed. After a while, the timer hit zero. 

Bzzt! Bzzzt! Bzzzzzzt!

“Gah!”

I was immediately deafened by the close-range siren wailing into my ear. I buckled down and covered my ears for a good minute before Ayame-san came back in.

“Hang on, Touya-kun. I’ve got it,” she said as she turned off the timer. “Phew. Sorry about that. I didn’t think it’d be that loud. I must have been worse for you.”

It definitely was. My ears were still ringing. I was still standing in a daze before my senses noticed Ayame-san’s face directly in front of me. She had knelt down to be more level with me.

Pat.

“There. There. It’s okay,” I was told as Ayame-san’s finger landed atop my head. She ruffled my hair with just her index finger without the slightest hint of roughness.

After apologizing, Ayame-san removed the teacup and told me to rest up. She also said Yae would be coming in a bit. I couldn’t reply back before the door closed. I instead took the time to get reoriented and to get the buzzing out of my ears.

“Urgh… That hurt…,” I mumbled to myself. “Sounds are only going to be getting rougher as I get smaller too, I bet.”

I believed I’d be able to adapt as the Reduction program didn’t mention anything about auditory issues, but I didn’t think I’d be incapacitated by just a ringing alarm.

“Well, I guess it was one of those super annoying alarms everyone gets affected by,” I sighed.

With my bath done, I grabbed all of my things together and rested up. There was no getting off of the table unless I wanted to climb down to Yae’s bed or chair. I didn’t, so I simply waited and listened for the sound of water running through the pipes in the walls of the house. As I didn’t hear it, I assumed Yae had gotten out of the bath.

Women take longer in the baths than men, though. Yae came in ten more minutes later, fresh out of the bath with hair down and blow-dried. I was pulled to the sight and then the scent as a pleasant, flowery aroma entered my nose as she came close.

“Did I keep you waiting Touya?” Yae hopped onto her bed which was beside her desk. In her spink and white pajamas, she grabbed her pillow and sat up to speak to me. “Did you have to take a bath like Okaa-san said?”

“Yup. I had to brush my teeth in the bath water too, but it wasn’t bad. It was like an open air bath,” I smiled told her. “Maybe I’ll ask for a milk bath next time. I heard it’s good for your skin.”

“It wouldn’t waste much milk at least,” laughed Yae. She stood up and pulled the chair of her desk back. I braced myself for the shaking as she sat down and scooted closer.

Immediately, I was assaulted by the aroma of shampoo and body wash. Flowers and fruits entered my nose. I was washed over by Yae’s feminine scent. I normally wouldn’t be able to notice it unless I was brushed up against Yae, but considering how large Yae was in comparison to me, it was impossible to ignore unless I tried.

Just being right beneath her, I could feel the humidity of the hot shower still encircling her body. Along with the flowery aroma, her body was still hot from her bath and the heat that escaped her spread into the air and me. I wouldn’t have imagined a living person could get so hot, but in reality, it wasn’t that Yae had taken a hot shower. It was that so little of her body heat was needed to envelop my body.

The combination of the Yae’s aroma and heat was astonishingly calming. I was overwhelmed at first, but it felt pleasant. 

“Touya?”

I was brought back to reality when Yae called my name. It was impossible to ignore her loud voice from above.

“Yeah?”

“You were just standing there and staring for a moment,” Yae told me. “Are you tired?”

“Tired? Well, I guess.” It felt embarrassed to have Yae noticed I had been distracted.

“Oh?” Yae wouldn’t let it go, unfortunately. She raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Were you distracted by my looks?”

“Yes, absolutely.” I immediately replied.

“Fufu~!” my answer made her smile widen. “I guess I do look a lot bigger, so did my appeal grow too? It’s so surreal. I guess I should tell you I’m getting distracted by how cute you look right now too.”

To prove her point, Yae brought her finger up to my chest and stroked it down slowly to my stomach. I looked up to see her gaze completely fixated on me. It was intimidating but also exciting knowing my entire body was in her focus, but I could tell she was being gentle. In fact, she also looked embarrassed, red in her ears. 

“How about we chat on the bed?” I suggested.

“I thought you were the one to told me to wait.” Yae replied to my answer with another smile. 

Unfortunately, that was all Yae would do. I had wondered why she was moving over to her desk instead of lying down and resting, and the reason why was to my left. When I glanced over, I spotted her other hand pulling out her textbooks and notebooks.

“Sorry, I hate to remind you, but we still have homework,” Yae told me, opening a math textbook I could walk on if I wanted to.

Homework. If that was how Yae was going to end the day, I had some bad news for her. “Too bad for you. We boys don’t have to turn our stuff in until next week, so I technically don’t have any homework.”

“What? That’s not fair,” Yae couldn’t believe it. “I thought you boys still had to go through classes like normal.”

“How do you expect the teachers to read work that’s this big?” I laughed, creating a box with my hands to mimic a sheet of paper. It’d be a paper scrap to Yae.

“Hm… How tall are you now anyways?” Yae asked but she was already moving towards the tape ruler she had in her basket of school supplies. I stood still as she checked for herself, pulling down the tape and putting it right next to me. I appreciated Yae not directly pulling me up to the ruler. “34 cm.”

“Definitely too small to do homework, right?” I chuckled. “I’ll just mess around while you work. I’m glad I snuck a game in my bag. There should still be battery life in it.” I took my portable game console out of my sports bag and pressed the power button. I was glad to see it still had 95% battery.

Misery loves company, unfortunately. Before I could react, Yae’s fingers came down and pinched the miniscule game console between them. She yanked right out of my hands and up out of my reach. I looked up at the pouting Yae who then lowered the console so that it was in reach. I jumped for it, but she immediately pulled it out of the way.

“Hey! No fair!”

“You’re not getting out of not doing your homework if I can’t, Touya,” she told me. “Either you help me out or you do your own work.”

“You’re kidding,” I frowned. I continued the game of keep away, but Yae continued to effortlessly pull my game console up out of reach until she kept her hand up, making reaching it absolutely impossible. 

A smile crossed Yae’s face when I seemed to give up. She pulled a pencil from her basket and forced it into my hands. It was essentially a spear I could use for fighting on my scale. I tried moving it around, but found it to be too weight-y for me to properly hold.

“So are you ready to work?”

I guess I had to. After I nodded, she seemed satisfied with herself and returned my game so I could put it in my bag. Once I did, she swept it away to the other side of the table like she would an eraser. She even placed a book vertically in the way to block it. I felt that was going a little too far, but didn’t complain further.

I relented to doing my own work as well. Since I had my own shrunken textbooks, I didn’t have to bother myself with walking around Yae’s textbook or trying to use the giant pencil. I also had a clear view of her answers so I could copy of her if I was behind or correct her if I was ahead. It was a little disappointing to have to end the day by doing school work, but it was at least enjoyable working with Yae.

After we finished what needed to be done, it was time to go to sleep. We had decided before the program began that if I was going to be staying at Yae’s place, I was going to be sleeping in her room. While I had wanted the living room, Takahashi-sensei advised both of us that it would be best to be with Yae for my own safety once I had gotten small enough. She said I’d easily get lost or hurt if I was away from her. Ayame-san was initially reluctant, but seeing me today, she also agreed.

She also said that it was Yae’s decision ultimately because I’d be too small to refuse. I didn’t understand it then but I did now as I stood atop Yae’s bed. She had lowered me down onto the white sheets of the mattress while she cleared away her desk and packed her textbooks into her book bag. I couldn’t keep my eyes closed as her pajama-clad butt swayed to-and-fro as she hummed a song.

“Yae, can I help?” I asked, approaching the edge of the bed. This was as close as I could get to Yae despite her being less than a meter away. I could slide down her blanket onto the floor where she stood, but that wouldn’t be of any help to me or her.

“It’s fine, Touya. I think this’ll be too heavy for you to hold anyways,” she answered. She turned towards me and then knelt down, but she wasn’t looking at me. She was reaching underneath her bed.

Neither of us did, but that explained what Yae had pulled out from beneath her bed. My bed for the night was going to be a pink sleeping bag - child’s one specifically. It looked to be one meant for kids as it had a picture of a magical girl anime character on it.

“Wow. Are you trying to embarrass me or yourself? When did you get an anime sleeping bag?”

“When I wa-” Yae stopped and blushed. I could see her eyes glance away. “I-I mean, Yuri likes anime too. Are you sure this isn’t hers?”

“No. This is definitely an anime from ten years ago. You probably got it when they were still selling,” I couldn’t be fooled and, like me, Yae wasn’t good at lying. “You used to have a lot of the merchandise, didn’t you? I remember the staff, the mascot doll, and all the keychains. What was it again? Magical Meteor Heart?”

“Touya, your memory’s too good,” frowned Yae as she rolled it out over the floor and added a small pillow. “Maybe I should find something else so you can sleep.”

“Hey, I’ll take what I can get. Even if it’s a bit big, it’ll be bigger tomorrow anyways,” I told her.

Yae stood back up and started walking towards her bed. I was alert as her footsteps not only grew louder but her figure rose higher and higher up as she got closer. Her body blocked the lamp light behind her when she was directly in front of me.

“I guess you’re right,” Yae agreed, looking at how small I was compared to her. Even on her bed, I wasn’t even level with her crotch. “Still, it’s been a long time since our last sleepover.”

There were obvious reasons why a boy and a girl our age couldn’t sleep in the same room anymore. This Reduction Week really made an exception in those reasons.

“If it weren’t for this program, your mother definitely wouldn’t allow it.”

“Okaa-san keeps saying I’d try something,” Yae frowned. “It’s embarrassing when you think about it. I know better than that, don’t I, Touya?”

“Um… Well…,” I wasn’t exactly confident enough to answer that.

“Touya, I wouldn’t, right?” Yae didn’t like my lack of response.

Again, I didn’t answer, even with Yae’s face directly in front of me, her nose just millimeters away from my chest.

“Maybe I should sneak into that bag later tonight then,” Yae suggested, feeling spiteful. She was red in the face after stating that, but her pout made her sound serious.

“Well, I’d like to see you try, but I don’t think you’ll fit in that kid’s bag. You might squish me if you do too,” I opted to be the calm and reasonable one between the two of us.

“Mmm… You have a point…,” Yae sounded disappointed. “But would you like being crammed in the sleeping bag with me?”

I chose not to continue speaking as Yae’s hands approached, ready to take me to the sleeping bad.

Gently picking me up with both hands, Yae held me close to her stomach and walked over to the sleeping bag that was three steps away. She lowered me onto the pillow and I slid down onto the pink sleeping bag. Looking up, I did a double take. I was under knee high to Yae now, so she had certainly become a giant in my eyes. Each leg towered over me like trees. They were thicker than I would be able to wrap my arms around.

“Fufu~!” Yae giggled. “Maybe I should tell Aoi-chan you were in a MagiMeHa sleeping bag tomorrow.”

“She’ll figure out it’s yours too, y’know,” I told her. If I was going down, she was going with me. Sweat trickled down my neck as I looked up. I had been atop tables for so long that the view from the floor was more than a little intimidating. I hadn’t seen Yae’s full height until now. She was a giant instead of the little Yae I knew a few days ago. 

“I’m going to turn off the lights then. Are you going to be fine here for tonight?” Yae bent down with her hands on her knees to ask me. I stumbled back from the sudden force of her titanic body dropping down. She didn’t seem to realize she had been the cause as she looked curiously down at me on the sleeping bad. “Touya?”

“I think this should be good,” I answered. She was still the size of a building despite having squatted down. “This bag’s big enough to be a room on its own to be honest.”

“It doesn’t even fit me any more though,” My comparison made Yae smile as she pushed her hair behind her ear. “I hope it’s warm enough.”

I waited for Yae to stand up and turn off the lights, but for a moment, she didn’t move. She stayed motionless, as still and as large as a monumental statue. Her gaze was fixated on me, and I could tell every part of my minute form was being examined by her.

“Yae?”

“Huh,” Yae snapped back into reality when I called her name. “A-Ah. Sorry, Touya. I was just thinking you’d actually be able to fit on my bed while I slept.” 

With the red blush on her face, it was easy to figure out what she was implying. I had joked about it before and when she had suggested sneaking into the sleeping bag earlier, she had been joking, but here, she was clearly serious. 

“I know how you feel, but if you roll over, I’ll be smothered. Let’s not,” I told her.

“Y-Yeah. I wouldn’t want you to get hurt,” Yae nodded and returned to her full height, swallowing her saliva. “But still...” 

Yae really was getting bolder. She wasn’t as willing to refuse now that I wasn’t in much of a position to myself. If I was going to be able to go to sleep safely, I’d have to take matters into my own hands. I’d have to satisfy Yae or do something to get her to forget about her request.

“This is only a one time thing,” I mumbled as I walked up past Yae’s left foot and towards her bare leg. Despite her having taken a bath, I could still smell the odor of her sweat coming off of her body. I placed my hand on her leg. 

“Touya? What are you doing?” Yae was confused as to what I was doing, but she tried to stay still to not kick me away accidentally.

“Just let me off with this tonight, Yae,” I told her as I leaned in to the girl’s towering leg and gave her a kiss. The taste was salty yet strangely sweet.

“K-Kyaa!”

Upon finishing, I took several steps back and looked up to Yae’s face. It was clearly burning red. “Good enough, Princess?”

“Y-Y-Yesh...” Yae slurred. I stood my ground as Yae stumbled back to her bed, her heavy footfalls, shaking the floor. What was three steps for her looked to be a few dozen meters to me. She absentmindedly threw herself onto her bed with a strong thud.

I didn’t think it would have worked at this size, but this was one of my trump cards I had been saving. I didn’t think I’d be kissing her lower leg and I hadn’t wanted to use it so soon, but if it made Yae happy, I couldn’t complain.

A few minutes passed before Yae broke out of her daze. She rolled over on her bed and waved with one hand while reaching towards her lamp with the other. She was telling me she was fine.

Seeing this, I crawled deeper into the sleeping bag. Yae’s pillow was too large for me to use and it was out in the open. The pink sleeping bag was soft all around, so I didn’t need the pillow anyways. I pulled the sleeping bag as best as I could to wrap it around me.

“I can’t even see you in there now, Touya,” Yae remarked before turning off the lights.

Yae turned off the lamp, turning the entire room dark. I heard her shuffle into her bed. Despite being just a meter or two away, she sounded distant. Still, this was Yae’s room, and here I was, sleeping in it - me, a second year in high school with my female childhood friend.

Thinking about it, there was no way I was going to sleep easy. I doubted Yae would either.

“W-Well, good night, Touya,” I heard her stutter. I was right.

“Sweet dreams, Yae,” I said to myself, not shouting to get Yae to hear.

I closed my eyes. Even if I was nervous, tomorrow was going to be the fourth day. I was going to need all of the sleep I could get.

With a new day, new challenges came. I learned this first hand when I lost 30 cm the previous day and had trouble getting ready for school because I couldn’t reach many things. The second to last day of Reduction Week would be even more challenging. When I woke up, I found an even more drastic change had occurred over night despite be losing less height than before. 

Everything was 3 times bigger than it was when I went to bed.

“11 cm,” Yae’s voice boomed from above as I stood next to the tower of a half-ruler she had placed on the desk. “If I wasn’t seeing this with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it.”

I had woken up lost in the sleeping bag. It was dark and I had gotten so small that it was a cavern I could wander around in. I found it impossible to find the exit until Yae woke up. It was frightening to hear the thunderous pounding of her footsteps as she got out of bed and approached the sleeping bag. I could hear her call for me, but it was muffled. Since I didn’t come out, Yae had opened it up, pouring light in and blinding me before I could get a good view of the titanic world around me. The next thing I knew, I was picked up in Yae’s hand and plopped onto her desk.

If I thought Yae was big before, she was gargantuan now. She was a 27 m giant from my perspective. Just looking up from the top of her desk, I found myself dwarfed by just her breasts. Poking out through the gaps in her button-up pajamas, each one was larger than I was tall. If Yae lowered them down onto the table I’d be smothered by them. I doubted I’d be able to move even if she wasn’t putting on her full weight.

Thankfully, Yae was more than reasonable while frantically deliberating what to do, but unfortunately, even as cautious as Yae was, I found every movement she made was more pronounced to me. I could feel the force of the air and the shaking of the ground as Yae lowered herself so that her face was level with the edge of her desk. The sheer billboard size of it was utterly intimidating. My first reflex was to back away because pure instinct told me I was in danger.

“Touya, does your body seem okay? Everything must look so different right now.”

Just by talking, the hot breath leaving Yae’s mouth blasted me like a strong gust. I had to close my eyes and lean my body forward to avoid being blown off my feet. 

“Touya?” Yae’s loud voice deafened me. She was wondering why I wasn’t answering. I would have told her it was because I was trying to deal with her morning breath but decided against it. Her mouth directly in front of me was unnerving. I had thought the lipstick mark from Ayame-san the day before was large, but with everything tripled in size this morning, I could very well fit in Yae’s mouth. I made a conscious effort to back away.

Yelling as loudly as I could, I told my titanic neighbor. “Everything’s way too big! And you’re way too loud! Can you hear me?”

It seemed to take a moment for Yae to register what I had said. I steadied myself as she stood up straight again. “Sorry. It’s actually hard to hear you. You sound so quiet if I’m not super close. This is way different from last night.”

I absolutely agreed. Yae’s desk had become the size of a gymnasium to me. Just travelling from one end to another meant walking a fair distance - a distance all within Yae’s reach. There was no getting off the table either. I was glad I didn’t have a fear of heights. I felt like I was on a cliff looking down at the floor far below. Communicating with Yae was also difficult now too as my voice could only carry so far. 

There was also the fact that Yae herself was the size of an office building. With her standing in front of me, I had a clear view of her pajama pants. Even the elastic band was above me. It was also intimidating to see Yae’s crotch sway forward and back as she stood. I was afraid it would slam into the table.

“Well, I’m worried about how you are now, but we should get ready to go,” Yae frowned, looking at the clock. She picked up my belongings from the other side of the desk between her index finger and thumb, delivering them to me so I wouldn’t have to make the trek. “Touya, can you get ready by yourself?”

I could. Because I had prepared everything I needed in my sports bag that Yae just gave me, I could do everything except take a bath and brush my teeth. I didn’t think there’d be much need for either when I took up so little space now though, and Ayame-san wasn’t present to bug me to do so. I simply had to get into my uniform. Changing in front of Yae, however, was not something I wanted to do.

“Is something the matter, Touya? You’re not doing anything,” Yae noticed I was just staring blankly up at her.

I was waiting to see if she’d figure it out, but the time spent under her gaze made me anxious. Was I going to have to undress in front of her? Was that what she was waiting for?

She wasn’t. Yae didn’t figure out what I wanted but it seemed it wasn’t necessary as Yae walked away from the table and out of my view thanks to the dresser in the way. I heard Yae rummaging through it for her clothes but couldn’t see. “Well, I’ll get ready, so you should too.”

Slam!

The door closed as Yae walked out, leaving me alone.

“All's well that ends well, I guess?” I relaxed my muscles and moved to get changed.

As I did, I considered my situation. It was clear to me that I had no sway in what Yae could do. Sasakura-sensei had mentioned that to me before. She could leave the room without saying a word or even re-enter it if she wanted to. Just because I wanted her to not be around when I changed didn’t mean she’d have to listen to me. 

“I’ll have to note this down,” I told myself as I buttoned up my uniform’s dress shirt. I was quick to change. With nothing else to do, I could only wait for Yae to return. There was no way off the table so I was stranded.

I had experienced it yesterday when the Asano family carried me around the house, but it really hit home when Yae was looking straight at me. I no longer had any control.  There was nothing I’d be able to say if she really wanted me to undress in front of her. She could change in front of me and I wouldn’t be able to do anything either.

“What an insane power difference,” I realized this was going to be an even crazier day.

“Seeing it first hand is more than I expected… Or less...”

“So this is Touya Onii-chan now?”

“It’s surreal that he fits so cleanly in my palm.”

Yae re-introduced me to her family now that I had shrunk again before we left. I sat in her right hand as she held it out to the two of them, not wanting to think about how high up I was from the ground. 

“Touya-kun,” Ayame-san kneeled down so she could hear me. “Was yesterday night, okay? Yae didn’t do anything, did she?”

“O-Okaa-san! I didn’t!”

I couldn’t say a word as I was more preoccupied by the mammoth fingers blocking my view of Ayame-san. Yae prevented me from speaking by just curling her fingers.

“You two are just one step away from dating, aren’t you? Touya-kun, are you sure Yae’s willing to wait until graduation? Yae didn’t suggest anything, did she?”

“Nothing happened! And I will! I mean, I’m waiting!  Touya promised after all! Stop teasing me about that,” Yae shouted, shaking her arms. My body felt like I was on a roller coaster as Yae argued with her mother. I wished she would have put me down. Just an ordinary conversation-argument between the two was a hurricane of being tossed around in Yae’s grasp for me.

“Grk! Gak! Uwah!” I had the wind knocked out of me more times than I could count before Yae deposited me on the dining room table. I didn’t have any time to rest, however, as a finger the size of a person poked me, turning me over. Before I could get my bearings, the same finger slammed down on me, pinning me to the table.

“Ehehehe~! Onii-chan, you should’ve been this small yesterday. We could’ve played even more fun things,” Yuri was as energetic as always. I, on the other hand, was already physically exhausted just from Yae’s hand and Yuri’s finger.

“Hey, Yuri, stop that,” Yae saved me by moving her little sister away. I was still being taken along for the ride, though, as her massive hands surrounded me. She cupped them together and picked my body up in between them. She then tilted them so that I rolled onto her right hand. “Sorry, Touya.”

“It’s alright.” I said, but I didn’t shout, so she couldn’t hear me. I gave her an ‘okay’ gesture to satisfy her as she looked at me with concern. I probably didn’t look fine since my legs were shaking and my body felt like jelly.  Yae didn’t seem to notice, however.

“So how are you going to take him to school, Onee-chan?” Yuri asked an important question, getting my giant friend’s attention.

“How?”

That was a very good question because it was up to Yae. I was no longer at a size where I could walk to school. It’d take months to get there. If I hadn’t opted to be with Yae, a government appointed handler would have come to pick me up like a human bus stop. I assumed she would be putting me in the paper bag with tissues like she had done before, but I was noticeably smaller now. I could certainly fit in any place like her book bag or pockets. She could even just hold me in her hand as she walked.

“You should make sure he’s comfortable, Yae,” Ayame-san suggested. “I doubt Touya-kun would enjoy being thrown around.”

After that first hand experience, I certainly wouldn’t.

“Onee-chan, I think you should put him somewhere you can feel him. Onii-chan might get lost.”

That was another good idea. If even Yae’s breath could knock me over, any movement could send me flying while she walked to school.

“Um… Well… if that’s the case then how about this?” I heard Yae as my body was pinched between her fingers. Like a crane game prize, I was lifted high up in front of her face and then lowered before Yae dropped me in a warm, soft location.

“This is…?!”

Yae’s choice was certainly one that I wouldn’t expect of her, but I wasn’t one to complain when I realized.

“Oh my, how bold of you,” I heard.

“Nishishishi~! Onii-chan, I can’t see you anymore, but can you hear me in there?”

Yae’s breast pocket was certainly a place where I’d fit and for Yae to not lose me. Ayame-san was right in that it was a bold move on her part. I found the pocket to be cramped, not because it was a small pocket but because of Yae’s chest. It was a tight fit, meaning I was pressed against Yae’s right breast. I could feel its heat pour through Yae’s clothes and into me. 

“Touya, it’s a little embarrassing, but this is probably the safest place,” my world shook as Yae spook. While in direct contact with her, her very words caused her body to move. I could feel the vibrations with my entire body. Her breathing alone brought me up and down rhythmically. Her heart, I could tell, was pounding fiercely like a taiko drum. 

Much like bag yesterday, the only light source I had was from above, but it was quickly sealed away when Yae buttoned the breast pocket up so I wouldn’t fly out.

Tremble!

“Uwah!” my body was whipped into the air and then quickly flung down as the entire pocket began to move.

“This could work,” I heard. “Still, this really is surreal.”

Boing!

She wasn’t kidding. Never in my life would I think I’d be pressed up against a girl’s breast at 10 cm tall. I wondered if Yae even knew they were bouncing as she walked. I could feel the impacts of her footsteps with my entire body.

“Touya, are you ready?” I heard Yae ask, but there was no way she could hear me even if I replied so I chose not to waste my breath. Yae was already moving.

“We’ll be going then, Okaa-san.”

“Have a good day, you two.”

I certainly hoped it would be good.

Where was Yae by now? I wondered along the way, but it was impossible to tell or see. While inside her pocket, I was cut off from the outside world. It was after the eighth instance I had enough time to think ‘Is it over?’ that the pocket I was in opened up, letting cool, fresh air enter my cramped location.

“Uwah!” I reflexively shouted as Yae’s powerful fingers entered the small pocket and enveloped me. I had the breath squeezed out of my chest when her thumb and index finger pinched me. They had noticeably more strength than before, though I believed it was because I got gotten slightly smaller along the way instead of Yae being rougher.

Before my brain could process being picked up, I endured a rapid ascent and then a sudden stop. When the pressure on my body released, I found myself in a giant metal cave looking out at Yae’s face. Where was I? Yae’s shoe locker.

“We’re here, Touya,” she smiled, ignorant of what I had endured. “It was a bit boring of a trip without being able to talk to each other, wasn’t it?”

It certainly wasn’t boring, but it wasn’t exactly enjoyable. I had to take a moment to catch my breath and recover. Yae saw this and frowned. “Was it that bad? I thought I felt you the whole trip and you didn’t move at all.”

So she could feel me. I wasn’t sure what to think about my entire body and all of my (lack of) motions being detected through Yae’s chest.

“Well, it was soft at least!” I shouted. She didn’t need to know how stuffy it was.

“Fufu…,” Yae giggled. Her booming voice echoed in the shoe locker. “I guess I should be happy you enjoyed it. Touya, you pervert. Then again, I guess that’d be me for putting you there.”

Yae was getting daring. I didn’t know whether to be worried or enthused. 

“Yeah. I’m surprised you did that. And then there’s what you asked last night too.”

“F-Forget about that,” Yae blushed. “I know my limits. I promise I won’t go too far.”

Was putting me against her breasts not too far compared to asking me to sleep in the same bed as her? I didn’t really understand women, let alone Yae. It seemed she was going through her own struggles now that I had gotten so small.

“Ok. Let’s put on our shoes and get to class then,” Yae told me, showing me her indoor shoes which she had removed from her locker before putting me there. I watched as she bent down to put them on the floor. I couldn’t see below unless I walked forward, so I relented to putting on my own indoor shoes…

Which I didn’t have...

“Ah,” I and Yae seemed to realize at the same time as we both had the same open-mouth reaction.

I remembered where Yae had placed my shoes the day before: in her own. She had wanted to see how they’d get the next day, but we had both forgotten.

“It’s… Where is… Huh?” The nervous smile on Yae’s face when she stood back up and turned to me told me more than enough about what happened outside my view. “Um… Touya… I think I may have...”

I approached the edge of the shoe locker Yae bent back down for a moment and saw her scratch her head when she looked down. I jumped back when I saw her stand back up, rising dozens of meters in height until her face filled the open locker again.

“You may want to see if you can find them,” Yae had an apologetic expression on her face.

Without asking me or giving me any time to prepare, Yae’s hand scooped me out of the locker.

“Wait, Ya-” was all I was able to shout before my body rapidly fell. When it stopped, I found myself dangled over Yae’s right indoor shoe. Yae had bent down so she could lower me into it. “Oh, I see what’s going on here.”

“Sorry, Touya. It should still be there.”

“So you want me to go grab them myself? Don’t tell me they’re stuck in there.”

“I think they are.”

“Waaaah!” The 15 cm drop from Yae’s hand to her shoe was not large from Yae’s perspective, but it was for me. I fell on my stomach, groaning from the unceremonious fall. I struggled to get back up, and when I did, I turned around and looked up.

Instead of seeing Yae, I saw the bottom of her sock clad foot. 

“It doesn’t look like they’re stuck on my sock,” I heard Yae say. “They should still be there, but I couldn’t see them, Touya. I’m sorry. I didn’t realize they’d get so small. Can you see if they’re in there? I didn’t see anything.”

I didn’t realize I’d get so small either. I covered my mouth and nose as I looked forward. I was inside of Yae’s indoor shoe. The smell of Yae’s feet and her sweat had built up and collected in the musty shoe.

“Did Yae seriously just put me here?” I couldn’t believe where I was. At 9 cm tall, her petite shoe was essentially a sweaty smelling tunnel. I had to crouch down to enter it, but the fact that I was waking in her shoe itself was unbelieveable in its own right. The stitching was thick enough to see, small loose threads of Yae’s socks were easily visible, and the imprint of Yae’s foot on the insole made a shallow crater I was walking in.

“Touya, are they in there?” I was spooked when I heard Yae’s thunderous voice from all around me. That reminded me that Yae was waiting, and that this cave was just her shoe. It was difficult to imagine her just standing at the shoe lockers waiting for a tiny person in her shoe to come out, but this really was happening.

“There they are,” I found my indoor shoes at the very end of the indoor shoe in the toeprint left by Yae’s big toe. They were safe because they had fallen to the very edge where Yae’s foot couldn’t reach. I put them on and returned my other pair to my sports back. I tried my best not to think about the fact that my shoes had been lost in Yae’s shoes and survived only because they were too small. I was still trying to ignore the fact that the entire tunnel that I was in was typically filled with Yae’s foot. I had to admit, though, that now that I was the deepest in, the odor was thick. I was getting coated in it.

“Let’s just get out of here,” I decided and began to walk back out to where the light was pouring in from the opening of the shoe. When I made it, I was greeted by the sight of Yae kneeling down over her shoes and a lavender pair of underwear that filled my view. At the very least, I wasn’t being greeted by the black stockings around her foot.

“Did you find them?” Yae asked.

I nodded. I was about to shout up at Yae, but at the sight of my confirmation, Yae’s hand descended and plucked me out of the shoe. She kept me in her hand and slipped her feet into where I had just been.

“You were taking so long, I was getting worried,” Yae opened up her palm to speak to me as she began walking. “We’re almost late for class, you know?”

“It’s your own fault for putting them in there,” I blamed Yae.

She accepted fault. “Yes, I’m deeply sorry. I’ll try to remember next time.”

I hoped there wouldn’t be a next time, but given there was still one more day, I honestly wasn’t sure. Resolutely, I decided I would take everything with me and keep it in my bag.

“Well, let’s hurry, Touya. If you’re this small, we’ll probably get to sit together in class today.”

“Sasakura-sensei, what are you doing out here?”

“Oh, there you are, Asano. And good. You’ve got Kirishima-kun in your hands. Perfect. The exception came before everyone else. Takahashi, you’re up,” Sensei was expecting us. She ordered Takahashi to bring the ruler and the sleepy girl placed it on Yae’s palm, instructing me to stand against it. Rather than give me a chance to do it myself, Takahashi used her hands to pick me up off my feet and pressed me against the wooden ruler.

“... 86 mm… 8.6 cm for now, Sensei,” Takahashi rubbed her tired eyes and told the nurse after getting the exact measurement.

“That sounds about right. The reduction rate should be slower now, though I’m sure for these boys, even a millimeter is going to make a difference in scale to them. Okazaki, put down Kirishima-kun for 8.6 cm.”

“8.6 cm? For Kirishima-s... Senpai? Kirishima-Senpai? I got it! Senpai came? Hold on!”

Yae held me close to her chest and pulled away from Okazaki as my 145 cm kouhai leaned in close with a beaming smile on her face. I nearly broke into a cold sweat as the girl’s meteoric face rapidly came at me, stopping a literal centimeter away from my body.

“Kyaa! You’re so small and cute!” her shrill voice was even more deafening at close range and coming from her titanic body. I had to cover my ears. “I’m so glad I volunteered to help this morning. Senpai, how do I look from your size?”

Yae was worried for me. “O-Okazaki-chan, what are you doing?”

“I was looking forward to this all week. Asano-Senpai, can I please take a look at Senpai? I want to see just how big I am to him.”

I would prefer it if she didn’t. Okazaki was more excited than a kid in a candy store. She had already tried intimidating me before with a wall slam, but that was when I was still one-third of my normal height. Now, I was much smaller. My underclassman was twenty times larger than normal. If Yae wasn’t holding me close, I was certain she’d snatch me up.

“Kukuku~! Senpai, what’s the matter? Are you getting scared looking up to your gigantic, cute kouhai?” Okazaki boasted, attempting to emphasize her height by stepping closer to Yae and me. “Maybe I’ll be the one to teach you a few things n- Gak!”

“You’re thirstier than I thought. Maybe I should change who’s helping me tomorrow if you’re going to keep acting like this,” Sasakura-Sensei sighed. To my relief, she yanked my energetic kouhai with her grabby hands away before she could do anything. “Sorry, Kirishima-kun. I’ll deal with this girl. She seems to be a bit too enthusiastic about being taller than others.”

“I’d appreciate that,” I shouted, though I think nobody heard me through Okazaki’s struggles.

While Sensei scolded Okazaki, Takahashi filled us in on the details with a yawn.

“Sheesh, everyone is just so energetic in the morning. You owe me for making me do all this work, Kirishima-kun,” she frowned, having gotten the sand out of her eyes. She looked down on me in Yae’s palm with a half-lidded gaze. “Sheesh, you’re tiny. I guess that means the other boys will be your size too when they get here. Well, let’s make sure you understand the rules then, Mr. Opted-Out-to-Play-with-His-Not-Yet-Girlfriend.”

I didn’t appreciate Takahashi’s nickname for me, but listened nonetheless. It seemed that although we were somewhat late, the boys still hadn’t been brought over from the Reduction Dorms. Since I was part of the health committee, Takahashi opted to give me just a brief summary.

The rules Takahashi spoke of were instructions from the Reduction program. She gave advice on how to stay safe. At such a small height, we boys were now in a lot more danger than we were the day before. I understood already that an unnoticeable breeze could send me flying so what Takahashi said wasn’t anything new at the start. Then came the instructions for how classes would go for the day. That was where I was most surprised. I hadn’t been told this in advance by Sasakura-Sensei.

“Asano, put him down there. Okay, that’s good.”

“Is this really safe, Aoi-chan?”

“Not at all, but there are countermeasures.”

Yae had put me down on the floor when she entered the classroom as instructed. Additionally, Aoi-chan had made her add a pink outsole to her indoor shoes - apparently to reduce injuries in case they happened. I looked forward at Yae’s and Takahashi’s truck sized shoes and then looked up and up and up.

“W-Wow…”

This was my first time really being on the floor since getting so small. I hadn’t had a good view that morning because Yae had put me on her desk immediately after she pulled me out of her sleeping bag. Yae looked impossibly huge, even more so than the previous night. Her legs clad in her black thighs just went on and on. I hadn’t seen her at full height when I was in her shoe, but now I was able to wander around literally at her feet. She had to be over 30 m tall. I had to bend my neck back as much as I could to get a glimpse of her face, and even then, it was so distant, my eyes had to refocus just to get a clear view of her.

Is this what a mouse’s eye view was? The ceiling, walls, and whiteboard were all out of focus, and I couldn’t see the tops of any of the chairs or desks. Everything just stretched higher and higher into the sky.

Stomp!

“Uwaaah!” I screamed from the explosive force of a pink indoor shoe landed behind me. The wind pressure alone blew me away.

“Kukuku~! Senpai! You need to be careful. You’re up against a bunch of giants right now,” the culprit, Okazaki teased, having been done being scolded. “Rawr! It’s Nao-jira!”

“Okazaki-chan!” Yae shouted, angry, but she didn’t move from where she stood because Takahashi used her hand to pull her back.

“No. That’s the right example,” Takahashi told her before turning her gaze down to me as I tried to pick myself up again after the impact. “This is how class is going to be going today.”

“Eh? What?”

To simulate how Reduction worked in various office jobs, classes today were apparently going to be very different. While we were still expected to learn the same material as the girls, we’d be doing so on the floor for the entire day. With the Safety Soles added, Takahashi said we’d be fine even if we were accidentally stepped on. I felt like I was being thrown into a lion’s den with how dangerous it sounded.

“Does this really happen in companies now? I know Okaa-san mentioned it before but this still sounds ridiculous, surreal even.”

“That’s what I’ve been told at least, though they’re normally bigger, I think. Who knows?”

“Oh, I know. I looked it up the other day! Here, it’s on my phone.”

“Is it, Okazaki-chan? Eh? Seriously, how is any of this legal?”

“Yawn… It’s commonplace now apparently.”

“Asano, I get how you feel, but this is part of the program,” Sensei tried to calm my worried childhood friend. 

“Whoever thought of this is amazing. I can’t wait for tomorrow, Sensei.”

“Okazaki-chan… what do you mean by tomorrow?”

“Don’t worry about it, Asano. I think Kirishima-kun will be safe… Maybe...”

Despite being part of the topic of conversation, I was being ignored entirely by the titanic women. As they talked, they didn’t even look in my direction. I could tell that this was the introduction to how all of us boys were going to be going through all day.

Before classes started, there was already enough happening to note.

When the other boys were brought in they were given the same spiel as I was but without Okazaki messing around because two other health committee members came to keep her in line. After a while, Takahashi had taken to lying on the floor to measure every boy with the ruler because she couldn’t be bothered the kneel any more. It was a good idea because she had started manhandling them and picking them up out of laziness. Though she was serious, the fact that she was kicking her feet while lying down measuring the boys made it look like she was playing around. 

The rest of the class went in through the second door in the classroom. I had the opportunity to see the reactions of all of the girls to the boys wandering around the floor of the classroom, trying to get their bearings in the now expansive classroom.

For starters, a number of girls were inspecting the Safety Soles they had been forced to put on. Because they had been told of their purpose, they were cautious when it came to looking at the floor. I heard Tsujimoto offhandedly suggest testing them out but she was quickly scolded by our class representative… who then accidentally pinned down Aikawa.

We were relieved to know the Safety Soles actually did their job, but the class rep nearly had a heart attack trying to turn herself into the authorities. Aikawa, I asked later, told me this.

“I wanted to see for myself if they worked so I ran right in.”

The reckless guy laughed saying it was surprisingly soft even though he couldn’t move. He did say to be careful of our positioning due to the hardness of the floor, though. I didn’t want to imagine what it’d be like if he had been unlucky. The shoes were apparently safe, but what about everything else?

Besides that, there were also girls who had gotten nervous about seeing us scurry about like rats. The bubbly Shima didn’t realize we’d get so small so she panicked when she walked in thinking we were rats. It was actually hilarious seeing her one of Eguchi’s admirers freak out from a distance, but I could tell that the boys who were almost stepped on by her erratic movements, it must have been catastrophic nearby. Eguchi apologized on her behalf to the boys just before someone plucked him off the floor to help Shima calm down. She did a complete 180 and found the 8 cm Eguchi to be the cutest thing ever like the hamsters she kept at home.

I offered Eguchi a prayer for being rubbed against Shima’s cheek so vigorously. I hoped his other admirers wouldn’t get jealous because he was going to be stuck with Shima for a while.

Then came the girls who accepted it wholeheartedly. The gyaru clique were asking for photo-ops with the miniscule boys. Watanabe just wanted a few pictures with her boyfriend while the others were trying to mimic those forced perspective in reality. I was surprised that they were so courteous to the boys and only took photos of those who volunteered.

“Ain’t my gal the best?” Arai bragged about Watanabe later when I asked.

I got my explanation from Fujimoto instead. “Those three mess around a lot, but they’re in the top 50 students for our year, didn’t you know? Nomiya-chan also wants to be a professional photographer, so she’s a stickler for asking permission.”

Really? Nomiya? The tanned gyaru with the ridiculously short skirt that made the public morals guys give up? I had to stop judging a book by its cover.

There were also students who ignored the change. Upon walking into the room and seeing a majority of the seats empty, Hozuki, our class’s sporty track star, shrugged and simply went to her seat. I learned quickly that I shouldn’t be wandering between the seats for too long because she nearly stepped on me getting to her seat which was the one behind me.

“So the boys are just going to be wandering around, huh? I guess that technically means we get the room to ourselves,” she told her neighbor and propped her legs onto my chair. It definitely wasn’t going to be using it seeing as it would be impossible to climb but I felt insulted she just claimed my chair.

“Hey! Get off there, Hozuki! That’s my seat!” I shouted at the building sized girl seated dozens of meters above my head.

Of course, there was no way she would hear me and there was no way I could climb up the towering school desk and chair to tell her off. I should have just been glad she didn’t push me off my cushion the day before. This served as a reminder that while on the floor, we weren’t going to be able to interact with the girls unless they were paying attention to us.

Ping. Pong. Ping. Pong.

Then came the bell. The boys had all been released into the classroom while girls who were late were properly fitted with the Safety Soles by Sasakura-sensei who stayed out in the halls while the other health committee members went to class. I noticed Sensei gave Takahashi a notebook, however, which made me curious. I wondered if I could get some information from Takahashi about what else Sasakura-sensei was making her do.

Unfortunately, I had to stop as all of the girls turned their attention forward when our homeroom teacher came in. Without any desks or anything our size to use, we boys simply froze as the girls quickly returned to their proper seats so as to not get in trouble.

Classes were about to begin.

(24) Day 4 Class Underfoot Part 2 (8.3 cm > 8.2 cm)

To talk about every class that went by on Thursday was nearly impossible. The reason why was because there was hardly any distinction between classes that day for us boys.

None of the teachers took the boys’ attendance so, on paper, it was like we weren’t there at all. The teachers all thought the same thing - they were teaching the girls only for that day. We boys were an after-thought, as per the Reduction program. We could hear the teacher just fine as her voice filled the entire classroom normally anyways. It sounded like it was being announced on concert speakers to us. If we wanted to learn, we could listen in, but if we wanted to see the board, we’d have to find a vantage point that was also safe. 

The girls populated the front row, so that wasn’t exactly simple. The safest was probably the class rep’s desk because she was cautious of us, but even that was fraught with danger. As a result, not many of us bothered staying and decided to use the chance for a once in a lifetime opportunity of adventuring around.

“Kirishima-kun, you’re heading out too? Aren’t you the honor student type?”

“Studying? It’s not possible when we’re like this, right?” I told the studious Nakano, gesturing to Class Representative Yoshikawa’s enormous shoe. She was tapping her truck sized foot, shaking the ground all around us. Yoshikawa was trying not to bother us, but just her unconscious movements were enough. “I’d rather go take a look around. I can ask Yae for the notes after this all ends.”

“You just want to take a look at Asano-chan, don’t you?” Eguchi remarked, heading off with me.

“I don’t deny that,” I proudly admitted, making my classmate laugh.

“Your personality is as refreshing as ever, Touya-kun. Well, I’m up for an adventure. This isn’t an experience you get every day,” the popular boy was very accepting which is probably why I helped him on occasion with his admirers.

“Just don’t get Shima or the others jealous while you’re with me, alright?”

“Er… Now I kind of want to get smaller so they can’t tell it’s me.”

“Eh? Wait, don’t leave me here alone! Kirishima-kun! Eguchi-kun!” Nakano didn’t want to be left behind so we went off to explore.  

When you’re wandering around a classroom at a bit more than 8 cm tall, it really isn’t a classroom anymore. The floorboards had gaps in them that resembled open gutters. The walls and ceiling were so far away, they may as well have been the horizon and sky. The talking of the teachers and the girls was loud but distant so it became background noise to us. It was odd to consider them as part of the scenery but they were large enough to us that we could certainly call them landmarks. This was going to be a unique tour of the same classroom we had spent so long in every day.

We had no choice but to wander under the girls’ desks and legs while we were on the floor.  Despite our own desks being empty and unused, the aisles were more dangerous as Date-Sensei walked about in her high heels. She had the same cushioning as the Safety Soles on, but the heel, I realized, was a dangerous spike that couldn’t possibly be safe. Did Sasakura-Sensei just let it pass or were the Safety Soles actually that good?

“I don’t want to play Chicken like Ryou and the others so let’s move on,” Eguchi suggested. I looked over at the group of boys who were testing their courage and reflexes by walking out into the aisle as our teacher walked by. I could hear the footsteps approaching, getting louder and shaking the ground more powerfully. 

We continued our slow exploration through the classroom. It took a few minutes to get from the front row to the second. We passed Eguchi’s empty seat, but as we did, both of the feet of his seatmate and admirer, Yamaguchi, landed on the ground beside us. The sudden gust of wind blew us into the aisle.

“Whoa!” “Wah!” “Gaah!”

“Sensei! May I use the restroom?”

“Hm…? Oh, go ahead.”

As we were trying to figure out what had happened, a shadow fell over me. I looked up and saw the pink underside of Yamaguchi’s shoe.

“Oh… crap...” I had only the time to mentally wonder why it was me and not Eguchi.

Stomp!

In an instant, my entire body was pressed down by an intense force. The pressure was incredible. I had been face up on the floor earlier so I was face first into the pink Safety Sole. I wasn’t crushed at all as the pink sole immediately softened. My body actually pushed it up while it was on the floor, creating a person shaped mold in it. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. There was no pain, but all I felt was pressure pushing down on me, pinning me down.

And the next moment, it was all over. Everything disappeared like it had all been an illusion as Yamaguchi walked off, unaware that I just made an imprint in her outsole.

“Touya-kun! Touya-kun! Are you alright?” Eguchi was the first to run over to me. He picked my head up because my body was still numb from what happened.

“Phew. That was close. That Yamaguchi… I didn’t think it’d be me that’d be the victim,” I groaned. “I’m fine, Eguchi. I’m impressed that the Safety Soles really did work. I need to find out how those were made.”

“Kirishima-kun, are you sure? We need to get you help, don’t we?” Nakano asked.

“No. I’m fine. No bruises or broken bones or anything. Just a little weak in the legs from how scary that was,” I assured them, noticing my trembling legs. “Don’t worry. I know my body.”

Now that he mentioned it, if I had been injured I wasn’t sure how we’d be able to help ourselves at all. Medical supplies? Medical expertise? I may have been a health committee member, but we boys had nothing at our size to use unless we had brought it in our bags when we started being reduced. Well, I supposed being able to survive being stepped on meant I was at least somewhat more durable.

“Well, let’s pull you out of the aisle for now,” Eguchi frowned, lending me his shoulder so I could stand up. “Nakano-kun, Airi’s seat is closest so help me out.”

“Got it.”

I was properly being carried by my friends over to where Shima’s desk was. There, we rested for the rest of the period between the bubbly girl’s shoes and white knee-socks.

“Well, at least now I can say I tested it for myself. Hahaha. Yae is so going to freak out when I tell her, though.”

“Touya-kun, you really have a refreshing personality.”

The next class started by the time I had rested up. After I recovered, I elected to continue our exploration despite Nakano-kun’s protests. Though Eguchi was equally as concerned about me, he agreed, mainly because he didn’t want to stay under Shima for too long.

“You probably saw it earlier, but Airi is really bad with mice and bugs. Since we’re around that size, if she looks down, she might have that freak out again,” he explained while scratching underneath his nose. “Besides… I’d rather not have to look up her skirt even if I can’t help it. I’d prefer it if you guys didn’t look either for her sake.”

A gentleman and a nice guy - that’s who Eguchi was. He wasn’t popular just because of his handsome face.

With that decided, we continued to the next row, though we should have considered our options before heading straight to the next girl’s desk.

I had to admit the view from below all of the girls was probably a sight many a boy going through puberty wanted to see at least once. Here it was magnified intensely. Long legs stretching up to the ceiling of the desk and a pair of typically hidden underwear exposed as clearly as a billboard only because we were small enough to view it as such from our perspective were admittedly more than just distracting. Still, the knowledge that we could get caught at any moment was what sent our safety senses blaring. Sure, the girls could simply dismiss us due to our insignificant size, but they could just as well stomp down on us or brush us away with a single movement of their feet.

“Geh! You perverts!”

With Tokiwa, the latter was more likely. The chance of getting stepped on on purpose was just as likely.

Tokiwa was one of the girls who were vocal about peeping the day before and still wasn’t used to the idea of us boys being able to peek up her skirt. I understood Tokiwa did have an attractive body as she was noticeably well-developed in many areas. She normally tried to conceal her many assets out of embarrassment, wanting to look prim and proper with her long, straight black hair. She couldn’t take being looked at and had outright stated all boys had lustful eyes before.

That was why she was so much more alert about our presence than the other girls.

Stomp!

“Hey, what are you doing? Get out of here,” we heard Tokiwa’s whisper loud and clear from above. She was looking between her legs, squinting to see us on the floor, stomping her legs and scraping it across the floor to try and sweep us out into the aisle. With what little of her face I could see past her breasts, I saw she was red from both embarrassment and anger. “Stop peeping from down there!”

“Tokiwa, is something a matter over there?”

“It’s the boys, Sensei. They keep peeping up my skirt.”

“They’re just wandering around. Ignore it.”

We didn’t want to stay longer than we had to stay and decided to not walk past the danger zone that was between Tokiwa’s stomping feet. We ventured into the aisle and ran diagonally to the next seat. Whose was it? Takahashi’s.

“Zzz…… Zzzz……”

“Sleeping as always. How does she score so high on exams?” I muttered, hearing Takahashi’s snores. I stood in front of her blue and white indoor slipper and placed my hand on the toe of her shoe. We were definitely under 8 cm tall now, but I could still hop up and take a seat on Takahashi’s slipper if I wanted to. “Now, should I see what’s up top.”

We were safe compared to with Tokiwa so I was more than a little relieved to see Takahashi’s feet flat on the floor. I tilted my head. My line of sight went up the length of Takahashi’s white knee-socks and up her pale, legs until they met her knees where they bent while she sat. I frowned. I had gotten to one of my destinations, but there was no way I was getting to the top of Takahashi’s desk. I considered climbing Takahashi’s legs but knew that would be both reckless and impossible. I was just an ordinary high school student. I couldn’t scale a building let alone a girl’s leg the size of one. Even if I could, she and Yae would both be nightmares to deal with if I got caught as well. 

“Well, I give up already,” I announced.

“So soon? Well, I can’t say I expected anything out of this anyways,” Eguchi chuckled. “I would have had to tell Asano-chan if you did anything.”

“Well, truth be told, I’m a little curious about what Sasakura-sensei gave Takahashi, but I’ll probably find out later,” I told Eguchi and sat down on the sleeping girl’s shoe. I was relaxed enough around Takahashi to be willing to lie down on it. “This should be a good place to rest.”

“Resting? Are you sure you should be there?” Nakano asked, concerned.

With my head resting atop my classmate’s shoe, I opened my eyes and looked up. I had to say, Takahashi’s indoor-type nature brought a little plumpness to her legs. I would have liked to poke fun at her having noticed this, but I knew she’d easily retaliate against me at my current size.

I stood up after I realized I was keeping Eguchi and Nakano waiting, but as fate would have it, that was a poor decision.

Rumble!

“Zzzz... Grk!”

“Gwah!” I suddenly found myself falling backwards.Takahashi had jerked her foot ever so slightly. While it wasn’t much to her, it was powerful enough to knock me off my feet. My body flipped as it tilted back. The next thing I saw was darkness.

“Mffgh!” I struggled to breathe the moment the stench of sweaty cotton and feet assaulted me. I had fallen head first into Takahashi’s shoe. My legs were freely sticking out to kick, but it did not do me any favors as I struggled to pull myself out.

“Wah! Touya-kun! We’re coming.” I heard Eguchi’s slightly muffled face. I was getting dizzy from having my blood rush to my head due to being upside down. The smell of Takahashi’s indoor slipper and sock did not help either. It was distinctly feminine, but the salty sweat and the musty, thick odor and cotton balls coating my face made it overwhelming.

I was thankful when Eguchi and Nakano pulled me out by my legs. They had climbed onto Takahashi’s foot to pull me out. After getting back down onto the floor, they gave me time to catch my breath and remove all of the grime from my face.

“Yup. Saw that coming,” Nakano remarked at my predicament.

“That Takahashi, I’ll get her back for this,” I swore, earning my friend’s laughter at my expense. It was my fault, I knew that, but I still had to say it. That was just our dynamic.  It was also probably the universe getting back at me for thinking she’d gotten fatter.

I was at least thankful that it didn’t seem like Takahashi woke up. Despite my struggles and the two of them scrambling to get me free, she was still asleep. I would’ve been surprised that she was able to sleep through all of the fuss, but this was the sleepy Takahashi and we were fairly small now. I wondered if she could even feel my movements.

We decided to properly take a break under my own seat before we once again left to explore. Though we were in school, time seemed to pass by differently because we weren’t taking part in the lesson. It seemed slow, but that was useful for us because our pace was much slower at our size. What the girls could cover in a single step took us thirty.

We continued past my desk and over to Hozuki’s, where I ‘subtly’ shouted at her for treating me chair as a footrest when I wasn’t using it. She couldn’t hear me, unfortunately, so we continued exploring. We went all the way to the back of the room passing different tables along the way.

Shizuku Yukimura’s chair was where Eguchi was very careful around. She was an odd girl and one of his admirers. You never knew what she was thinking, and she was so quiet, it was often like she wasn’t there. 

She was also fond of not wearing socks, or shoes for that matter. She kicked off her indoor slippers while in class long before we approached.

“...Mm…? ...Eguchi-kun...?” she mumbled when she spotted us wander by. She had one leg crossed over the other, but started to hover her barefoot above us when she noticed us. We could see her scrunch her toes, letting dirt that had clung to her bare foot flake off of it and fall over us.

“Gak. Gross.”

“She knew it was you? Wow. Yukimura’s got good eyesight,” I remarked cautiously.

“No. She can’t see us. She’s just being hopeful,” Eguchi knew. He seemed wary of Yukimura’s foot. I was as well, but he was more knowledgeable than I was about her personality. “I think we’d be better off moving soon.”

“Is something wrong with Yukimura? She’s a bit weird, but she’s a nice girl isn’t she? You’ve got a bare-legged beauty right above you right now,” I tried tempting Eguchi. “I thought you were fair with all your girls?”

“They’re not my girls. They’re all just interested in me,” Eguchi stated. “Shizuku’s definitely cute, but she’s also got a bit of a wild streak, though.”

“I can see that,” I nodded. The bottom of Yukimura’s foot bounced up and down above us. She seemed to be using it to trace our path. It never left its position above our heads.

“That’s not what I me- Look out!”

Slam!

Eguchi pulled me and Nakano out of the way just in time before an eraser as big as we were fell off of Yukimura’s desk. It nearly landed on it. We were safe from the first impact and were able to see the eraser bounce towards us.

“Wow. That was close,” Nakano breathed a sigh of relief.

I would have said the same thing, but there was no time for that. Because Yukimura had dropped her eraser, she was intent on picking it up. She wasn’t the type to get out of her seat to grab it unfortunately.

Yukimura’s foot came down at breakneck speeds towards her eraser. She didn’t see it at first so her heel slammed down onto the floor. The sheer force of her barefoot slamming down onto the ground sent a shockwave of dust and wind out. It was strong enough to send us rolling away from the eraser. 

“Hm…? So it was...”

“Oh, this is bad,” I heard Eguchi before he started moving. I completely agreed with him when I looked up.

Yukimura dexterously grabbed the eraser between her toes with one of her feet. Considering it was as big as us but heavier than us, I realized she could do the same to us as well. Eguchi had already come to that line of thought before me though. I didn’t think about it until I saw her other that foot was also moving above us and was headed in our direction. 

“Yup. We’re getting out of here,” I concluded was the safest decision the moment the shadow of Yukimura’s right foot descended over me and Nakano on the path to Eguchi.

Slam!

“Gwah!” “Grk!” “Oof!”

Our light bodies were sent flying yet again when Yukimura’s foot hit the floor. We were thankful this time, however, as the force of the impact knocked us away from her table.

“Tch.”

“Something wrong, Shizuku?”

“...  I saw Eguchi-kun come by...,” she frowned. “... I wanted to take him home...”

Hearing those words as I picked myself up, I understood Yukimura a little more now. Despite her quiet demeanor, she was incredibly forward with Eguchi, being unafraid of physical contact and knowing no boundaries. Did she not realize trying to stomp down without the Safety Soles was dangerous for us? I didn’t think it’d kill us thanks to how Reduction worked, but we’d definitely be hurt. Eguchi had his fair share of trouble with his popularity, and nearly getting picked up between her toes and taken home was now another concern he had.

Thankfully for us, we were able to escape Yukimura’s sights when she was distracted by the bell ending the class long enough for us to move out of her line of sight by scurrying away. 

We were a little thankful our forms were difficult to make out from their heights.

After another long rest, we continued our travels.

Honda seemed just as observant of the ground when we were wandering about. We poked fun at Nakano because it looked as though she was looking for him considering how often she was glancing at his empty chair.

“I’m telling you guys. Honda-san’s nice, but there’s no way she’d like someone like me.”

“Who knows. Maybe the Reduction’s gotten her attention. I know Yae’s been acting differently because of it,” I shrugged and told him about how Yae had grown more daring since the week started. Eguchi added his own similar experiences. 

“You should be careful then, Touya-kun. Unlike me, you’re staying over with me, aren’t you? She might do something.”

“Let’s hope Honda does something too then. How about it, Nakano?” I gave the guy a jab.

“It won’t happen!”

Unfortunately, Nakano was correct that nothing was going to happen. Though she saw us, Honda merely looked back at the front of the room again, getting back to class. She didn’t recognize Honda or any of us for that matter.

“Ouch. Ignored,” I teased.

“It’s okay. There’s always next time,” Eguchi reassured.

“It’s not like that!”

It made sense that we’d be ignored. We were lucky enough that Honda was even paying attention to the floor. I was sure if the girls were used to Reduction, they’d not be concerned about us at all. That was what was supposed to be happening all day, but because this was everyone’s first time, the girls couldn’t help but be curious. Our teachers were doing their best to try and pull their attention away from us as was their job. If they had the chance to later, I was sure they’d come and pick us up.

I certainly wouldn’t mind if it was Yae. And last but not least in our adventure, at least for me, we came to her.

When we were a seat away from Yae’s chair, she was diligently taking notes but occasionally glancing around to see if she could spot us. She also peaked between her legs to check if anybody had wandered under her desk. She seemed disheartened when she noticed nobody was there.

“She’s looking for you, Touya-kun,” Eguchi told me. “Should we head to hers next? You did say you wanted to see her.”

I knew. Yae wasn’t the type to be able to ignore me even if she was told to. She had probably been trying to keep an eye on me while I travelled around the floor, but she probably lost me part way through whenever she had to pay attention to the class. I hoped she hadn’t seen me get stepped on by Yamaguchi or nearly stomped on by Yukimura. She probably didn’t as she certainly would have caused an uproar if she had.

It made me a little happy to know she couldn’t ignore me. Though I was more taken by the fact that this was a rare occasion where I could look at her without her noticing me. The lack of focus in her gaze as it darted around, the way she flicked her pencil eraser across her lip as she worriedly searched the floor, the rubbing of her thighs against one another as she squirmed nervously - I saw it all. Considering how large she was in comparison to me, there was no way I couldn’t see her movements.

“Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside seeing Touya-kun get lost in his own world, doesn’t it?”

“Asano-san and Kirishima-kun are just one step away from dating after all. It’s all but official according to the couple themselves.”

“They sure have a strange relationship. Touya-kun is definitely head over heels for her, though.”

Ignoring the peanut gallery comments from the other two, my thoughts drifted along with my eyes. What caught my eye in the end were Yae’s indoor shoes. She leaned back and kept the heels of her shoes on the floor while raising up the rest. We could see the underside of her shoes precariously ready to slam back down onto the floor at a moment’s notice. We had lost just a bit of our height in the short time that had passed in class, but we were still small enough to be considered bugs at her feet. My experience with Yamaguchi already demonstrated that.

Recalling being inside of Yae’s shoe earlier also sent chills up my spine.

“Let’s not go there yet,” I changed my mind while hiding behind a bookbag. “I don’t see her disappointed face that often.”

“You bully.”

“Consider it pay back for this morning.” Was I developing a fear of feet? No, I didn’t think I was. I was fine with Yukimura… at least until she nearly stomped down on us. I was just being cautious.

“This morning? What did you two get up to?”

I spoke too much, but Eguchi and Nakano let it slide. And so our exploration continued. We were just using the entire school day just walking from classmate to classmate. It was like being at a theme park and going to various attractions. We got our exercise in and passed the time chatting and walking about along the floor.

However, that was not going to happen.

“Oh, that’s right. Girls, Sasakura-sensei will be here to keep an eye on you during lunch. You’re not supposed to take the boys off the floor for today, okay?” Yasuda-sensei informed them before leaving.

“Eh?” a number of the girls were surprised and disappointed.

“What? But I wanted to eat lunch with Touya,” I heard Yae complain.

This was a part of the Reduction Week program. Since the program wanted us to fully experience being under their notice at their feet for the day, the girls couldn’t be allowed to pay extra attention to us. Though they certainly had been during class and the passing periods, Sasakura-Sensei was going to be around during lunch due to the program’s policy.

This meant our lunch time at our reduced height was going to be without the girls… well, ignoring the fact that they were directly above us.

“No fair...” I watched Yae stand back up to her full towering height as she was forced to step away. The rest of us boys on the ground wondered what was going to happen next.

“So… how are we going to eat? Nobody told us about this when we were together last night,” Eguchi asked.

“Don’t tell me we’re going to have to hunt for scraps.”

No. We wouldn’t. I didn’t know everything, but Sensei had at least informed me about how meals would be handled for lunch. Sasakura-Sensei came into the room with what was to be provided to all of us boys. Joining her were two other health committee members. They helped her place plates around different parts of the room. Our lunch was being provided for us but we’d have to get to it. 

“Can you boys even climb up? Should I help you up?” one of the girls asked as she placed the plates down. Since the plates weren’t flat, they still had some height to him which was more noticeable on our scale. As we had still been shrinking during the day, even the 3 cm gap between the plate’s rim and the floor was around waist high to us.

We all chose the plate closest to us and headed on over. We had to climb up to get onto them. I didn’t know what kind of food it would be until I pulled myself onto the plate.

“Whoa. This is a surprise,” I put my hand to my chin.

“Oh. It’s just like last night,” Nakano stated, not hesitating to go ahead of me. I was surprised at his quick acceptance.

“C’mon, Touya-kun. We’re going to miss out. Ryou’s group is here too and you know how much they eat.” Eguchi advised.

“Last night? I guess I missed this when I was eating bits of the Asano family’s dinner.”

“Oh? Tell me how that was later.”

Each plate around the room was a literal shrunken buffet of food. I had expected to have to eat cut up shreds of food or crumbs, but the government program wasn’t that harsh. They went all out in making food to our size so that we could eat it. There were even reduced tables and chairs. There was nobody running the buffet style spread of dishes but it was a normal-sized experience I hadn’t had for a few days. It was very welcome.

I joined in with the other boys to eat. At this plate, there were 8 of us - Us three, Ryou and his pals, and Fujimoto. We shared our experiences while we ate. I would have eaten more but, as I was less used to the dining experience than the others, I couldn’t help but get distracted.

Up above, the girls were curiously looking down on us while they ate. We were close to Yukimura’s desk and she wanted to lie down on the floor to see us, but Sasakura-sensei stopped her. Still, she sat at her desk and ate while looking down at us from up above. A few other girls pushed the seats nearby to do the same thing, Yae included. She was pouting over not being able to share her lunch with me as Ayame-san made extra. She got flustered when Takahashi told her she’d get fat eating my share. I doubted my portion would have been much considering my current size.

Still, I was alert to the girls as they watched us like we were classroom pets. We were surrounded on all sides and crumbs from Yukimura’s melon bread were falling like hail… or rather, large rocks. 

“What are they eating? It’s hard to tell.”

“It looks like a lot of good food, though. I’m jealous.”

“I don’t think it was a good idea to put them on a plate. They look bite-sized too...”

“Hey, don’t say that!”

“Eguchi-kun’s the one of the left, right?”

“Um… Yukimura-san, you’re making a mess. Can you move away? Also, your shoes...”

“Oops. I forgot…”

Being watched while eating was bothersome enough but being watched from above by giant girls was a bit unsettling.

“Not used ta’ it, Kiri?” Ryou called me while we ate. “You were wit’ Asano ta’ whole day, so I thought you’d be more used ta’ this than us.”

“I’m more worried about stray crumbs. And Yae’s an exception. I’m not used to other people.”

“And I’m not used ta’ havin’ Yukimura’s barefoot right in my line of sight,” Ryou shrugged. “We didn’t have these girls lookin’ up at us yesterday either.”

“You guys need to tell me more about yesterday. I want to hear. But if anything, Eguchi, you’re pretty blase about this. Your four girls are all here, y’know?”

“I know, but they can’t really hear us right now, right? I’m actually enjoying this technical freedom from them. It’s nice to hangout with the guys once in a while.”

“Ah, that’s right, it must be hard ta’ get away from ‘em. Must be rough, Mr. Popular,” Ryou laughed.

In any case, I had a question I wanted to ask. “ So you guys got to eat like this yesterday?”

“Well, we were bigger yesterday, but yes,” Fujimoto nodded. “It’s a bit awkward being on the plate, though.”

We fit on it with room to spare. We shuddered to compare ourselves to bite-sized snacks.

“There’s only one more day, so I wonder what that’ll be like,” Nakano mumbled.

“Probably as crazy as today,” Eguchi smiled his usually pretty boy smile. “Touya-kun, you’ll be with Asano-chan again today right? Let’s make a deal. If we tell you about the dorm, you’ve got to tell us all about your hot time with Asano-chan.”

“That hardly sounds fair. My private life is my private life,” I told him, though I was bound to share with him anyways. It was a fault of mine for being so honest.

Ping! Pong! Ping! Pong!

The bell sounding the end of lunch eventually came. Sasakura-Sensei told the other girls to step aside while she and Takahashi got the plates. Takahashi didn’t really want to work, but the other health committee members had already gone back to class since they did their job earlier.

We were still on our plate when Takahashi’s foot stepped over us. For an instant, we were given the view from being directly beneath her before she turned around and bent down, her shadow completely covering our plate.

“Oh, I got the jackpot.”

To my surprise, Takahashi recognized me immediately.

“Hey, Kirishima-kun and co, you guys need to get off. I’ve got to get the stuff,” she said, her hand already on the plate. Since she knew where I was, she grabbed it right near where I was standing. I was knocked off balance by the sudden appearance of her fingers that were longer than we were tall. Everyone scattered to the edge of the plate to climb down while I picked myself up. “C’mon, Kirishima-kun. Are you going to move or am I going to have to do it for you?”

To make her point, Takahashi pursed her lips and blew. A gust of wind nearly knocked me off balance again if I hadn’t braced myself. I knew when to get out of dodge. I walked around Takahashi’s giant finger was about to climb down, but Takahashi’s free hand suddenly came down and blocked my path.

“Wah!” I found my 7 cm body squeezed between Takahashi’s thumb and forefinger. With her thumb pressed against my face, I could feel my body rise up and up as she stood up. 

“Well, that was easy. I could get used to this feeling.”

I couldn’t see with Takahashi holding me in between her fingers, but I could tell I was being held in front of her face. I didn’t think I wanted to look down. How high up was I? If Takahashi let go, how far of a drop would it be? She could just as easily tilt her head back and move me over her mouth too. To think this was just her normal height… That Takahashi. I had yet another reason to get her back when I was normal sized again.

“Aaaa~!” Takahashi jokingly opened her mouth wide. It wasn’t a joke to me. No, it was terrifying, like being held over a shark pit. A cavernous hole with teeth and a pink, serpentine tongue seemed to be beckoning me from below. I could feel Takahashi’s hot, moist breath rise up. I choked on the intense smell. I wanted to hold on to dear life on Takahashi’s fingers but she was the one holding me.

“This isn’t funny, Takahashi!” I shouted.

“Kukuku~! Think of this as revenge for earlier,” Takahashi pulled me just slightly away from her mouth to talk, but still close enough for me to feel the warmth of her breath when she whispered.

My body froze at her words. So she had been awake earlier. She knew I had fallen into her shoe. Was she holding it against me? Or was she attempting to blackmail me?

“Wow. That face. You’re a real riot, Kirishima-kun,” smirked Takahashi. “I wonder what I should do with this information...”

Blackmail. It was definitely blackmail.

Luckily for me, my savior came just in time. “Aoi-chan, don’t pick on Touya!”

Yae was ready to convince Takahashi to let me go.I could tell she hadn’t heard our conversation fully, and Takahashi didn’t seem to want to reveal it either. She gave in to not arouse Yae’s suspicion.

“Right. Sorry. Shouldn’t mess with your boyfriend.”

“H-He’s not my boyfriend yet.”

Saved by Yae. Takahashi relented and returned me back to the floor. She gave me a knowing look, however, telling me she wasn’t done with me yet. I sighed and hoped she’d save it for after I got back to normal size. I also noticed the disappointment in Yae’s expression when Takahashi didn’t hand me over to her, but with Sasakura-sensei still around, she couldn’t do that. Yae wanted to immediately come down, scoop me up, and care for me, but Sasakura-Sensei shouted at her to not, much to her disappointment.

Once she was done, Takahashi wandered off to Sasakura-sensei to deliver the miniature buffet. Yae wanted to stay and talk to me, but Sasakura-sensei scolded her yet again.

“You sure are popular, Touya-kun,” Eguchi laughed. 

“You of all people shouldn’t say that,” I didn’t want to hear the guy with plenty of admirers telling me that. Yae was all I needed. Takahashi was just a playful friend and Okazaki was Okazaki.

“Well, we still have the rest of the day, so should we work off this meal?” Eguchi was in the mood to continue our day’s adventure.

Continuing would have been nice, but with the end of lunch, the adventure would have to end. We’d still be working off the meal though. We knew what class was next and we wouldn’t be staying in the same room if that was the case. So as our exploration for the day came to a close, we psyched ourselves up for what was to come.

But that was not the case. We had to gather up by a Reduction Transport container with our things while the girls left the room to change. They actually checked we were all present before leaving. That was why Sensei had given Takahashi a notebook. It had our class roster on it and since she could recognize most of us boys (through putting her face far too close for comfort to us), she checked we were all there and left us to the other health committee girl in charge of transport.

It took time, but once inside the liftable steel box that resembled an animal carrying case, we were expected to change into our athletic clothes. The walls of the entire interior of the box were all lockers.

I heard from the other boys that the container was different from the one they were in yesterday to take them to where had stayed overnight. This one was a lot smaller, the size of a purse, but a lot more roomy, probably due to our size. The steel box also lacked the cushions the other carrier had. This was, in a sense, a miniature locker room.

“Okay, boys. You can head on out,” we were told by the health committee girl. We stepped out to find ourselves in the school gymnasium like we had been the day before. Only now, the gymnasium was as expansive as a city, and in this vast field of laminated wood, we could see the towering girls all around us.

“What the heck are we going to be doing in class today?”

“They don’t seriously expect us to wander around here while the girls are playing, do they?”

“Where’s Sensei?”

“Um… Guys… what’s going on?”

Our questions went unanswered as the voices of us boys talking and shouting at the health committee girl’s feet never made it to her ears. She picked up the purse sized carrier that held all of us and waved good-bye.

We were left grouped together in the center of the gym unsure what to do. All around us were the girls in their gym clothes. No, more importantly, we were completely surrounded by them. They were in a circle all around us. 

This surely was an experience. The girls stood, kneeled, sat, and squatted around us in a circle about 4 meters wide while we boys stood in the center, taking up less space than a single basketball. Speaking of basketball, we could see one underneath Hozuki’s foot - the building sized orange sphere firmly kept in place by the giant athletic girl’s foot. We were thankful she was keeping it steady, but she was also looking straight down at us. All of them were.

“Wow. I know I let those girls ask, but this is kind of underwhelming.” “What do you expect? they’re like a bunch of ants. You can hardly see them.” “I wonder what they’re thinking right now.” 

“Can I pick them up?” “You idiot. Sensei said we’re not allowed to.” “But I’ve been wanting to all day.” “I know. It’s so unfair.”

“... Hey, Airi-chan... Eguchi-kun’s down there, right...? Let’s scoop him up and go...” “Eh? N-No. We shouldn’t do that!” “S-Shizuku-chan, you’re scaring me.”

“Wow. I was thinking it’d be funny to play ball with them yesterday, but that looks impossible now.” “Yeah. The ball’s so much bigger than them.” “Shouldn’t we be more worried about stepping on them? We’re not wearing those soles anymore.”

Surround sound conversations thundered above us, some of which more nerve-wracking than others to hear. We had been around the girls all day, but having all of them surround us sent us boys grouping together. We were back to back staring up with trembling legs.

Yoshikawa and her friends were chatting amongst themselves while glancing at us. Tsujimoto and her friends were squatting, dangerously leaning forward to the point of nearly losing balance and falling over us. Eguchi’s admirers, Shima and Satou especially, were trying to hold back the expressionless Yukimura, their struggles sending earthquake-delivering stomps across the gym floor. Hozuki and her friends were being cautious despite Hozuki’s usual apathetic tone.

“Y’know, I kind of get why Sasakura-Sensei didn’t want the girls to pay attention to us now,” I heard someone say.

I agreed. While we were on the floor all day, we weren’t surrounded on all sides by the girls nor were we under their observant gazes. It may have just been because of the perspective (since we hadn’t gotten that small), but we certainly felt under the microscope.

I was now 6.5 cm tall, half of my height from when I woke up this morning. This meant the size of everything had doubled again since the day had begun. The girls were now 50 m tall from our perspective - kaiju sized. Even the JSDF would be challenged by them if they were our size. How could a couple of ordinary boys fare against a group of kaiju scale girls in gym clothes?

Primal fear and instinct were starting to take priority for a couple of us. I could see some guys breaking out into a run while others felt weak in the knees. When faced against an overwhelming monster, wouldn’t you? While the girls weren’t monsters, they were certainly the size of the famous ones we knew of.

“Maybe we should run? That’s what my body’s telling me,” Nakano suggested.

“I’d agree with you. I’m in the mood to yell ‘Gojira!’ and run in panic too, but there’s nowhere to go,” I shut down Nakano’s idea. We were surrounded on all sides, and, even if we ran, we wouldn’t even make it to the nearest girl unless we ran for a good few minutes.

“Wow. Look at them go. They’ve really slowed down,” Hozuki remarked, noting how little distance the fleeing boys covered. When one step from them was twenty to thirty of ours, we’d clearly look slower to them. 

Stomp!

Yawn. 

A familiar sleepy sound entered my ears after a powerful stomp that sent all of the running boys to the floor. Turning in the direction of the sound and looking up, I saw Takahashi leave the circle and approach. In just two steps, she was already on top of us, her shadow covering the entire area where all of us boys were.

“Hey, boys,” the girl’s half-lidded eyes turned towards us as she waved from above. “How was the view? Were you scared? I bet you didn’t think you’d have all of us around you when you got out.”

We didn’t, but judging by how she was speaking, Takahashi had planned the surprise.

“You are having way too much fun this week, Takahashi!” I shouted up. Of course, my voice didn’t reach up to her ears. It was too soft and weak, only able to reach past her knees. Takahashi could see me vent however so she knew what I was thinking.

“Don’t be like that, Kirishima-kun. I just thought I’d give you boys all the experiences Reduction Week has to offer… Well, some of the girls asked for it too...”

I wondered who was on that list, but before I could start deducting who, another question crossed my mind.

Where was Yae?

All of the girls in the class were surrounding us except Yae. While it was a given that I couldn’t see past the wall of legs formed by the girls, I would have thought she’d be around if everyone else was. I tried to focus my vision past the girls’ bodies, but the rest of the gym was distant and blurry in my eyes. My childhood friend was nowhere to be seen

“Hey, Aoi-chan. This is your job. I wanna look too!” “Takahashi, what the heck are you doing over there?” 

She could, however, be heard - Sensei as well. The circle of girls cleared away for Yae and Kawamura-sensei to pass. It was an astounding sight to see the giants move aside - as major as seeing the sea split.

“Clear the way, girls. Come on.” 

“Is over here fine, Sensei?” 

“Almost. Hey, Takahashi, help already. Hold on to those ends, would you? This thing’s light, but it sure is fragile. We need to lower it slowly.”

“Fine...”

“Easy does it.”

Slaaaaaaaam!

All of us boys were caught up in a cacophony of stomps, clamoring, and tremors as Takahashi moved to help Yae and Sensei gently (to them) set something down. What was going on? We couldn’t tell while the girls were setting up because we were thrown about by just their footsteps.

Only when the set up was complete did we discover what Yae and Kawamura-Sensei had brought in.

“Whoa. Are you serious?” “They did this just for the program?” “Wow… this seriously makes it obvious how small we are.”

What was in front of us was a building. Or rather, it was a gym - a miniature gymnasium much like the one we were already in. Yae and Kawamura-Sensei had carried the government seal and sponsor logo decorated building like they would a cardboard box. The Reduction Program had brought along another surprise to us boys. 

Stomp. Stomp.

Kawamura-Sensei’s feet stood on both sides of the building as she stood over it. We stretched our gazes up to listen to her speak while I could see Yae behind her complaining to Takahashi for not helping out. 

“Okay, boys. The folks down from the program were nice enough to send you some proper sized equipment. They shrank down a gym just for you all to play in. It should be the right size I hope. Head on inside and see for yourselves.”

Inside we went. The Kaiju comparison really hit home with how easy it would be for any of the girls to step over or even on the miniature gymnasium. We were thankful to experience something that seemed regular size to us.

This building was much more equipped than our own as well. The gym building was fitted with a stage, basketball courts, and even a second floor walkway with seating. There were even proper basketballs reduced along with it so we could play. 

“Why didn’t they bring this in yesterday?”

“I’m guessing it was delivered here too late. Deliveries are always late to the nurse’s office,” I tried answering the question as a health committee member. “I’m willing to bet we’re getting something for tomorrow too.”

This wasn’t a normal gymnasium, we were all aware of that. Though it looked like a model, it wasn’t. An 8 m building had been shrunken down to our level, meaning it was now less than 0.3 m tall, below any of the girls’ knees. I doubted that the Reduction program would emblazon their logo on everything unless there was something special about this building.  While it was good for us to be able to use, there had to be a catch.

Shake! Shake!

“Waaah! The roof!”

“T-The heck? So easily?”

There it was.

“Alright. Looks like you boys all fit inside here nicely,” Kawamura-Sensei’s voice reverberated around the shrunken structure. She had opened the roof by simply lifting it off with one hand. The gymnasium’s roof had been removable. “I expect you all to play a proper game with the equipment there.”

We’d probably do that even if she didn’t tell us. We were very appreciative of having something our size after spending all day on the floor.

After Sensei stepped away, we found ourselves staring at a blurry brown sky - the ever-distant ceiling of the actual gym we were in. That was shortly replaced, however, by Takahashi, who leaned over to peak in.

“Hm… This seriously does look like a model,” I heard her mumble. “Asano, it wasn’t heavy, was it?...”

“You would’ve known if you did your job, Aoi-chan,” Yae replied. She was out of view but I could tell from her voice that she was pouting over being made to do Takahashi’s job for her.

“Sorry. Sorry. I wanted to give the boys a scare. So is it heavy?”

“Not at all.”

It absolutely wasn’t for Yae. The 50 m by 25 m building was made with concrete, wood, and steel, a majority of it being steel for reinforcement, but because it was now less than 2 m by 1 m, it was a fraction of its original size and even less of its original weight. Yae had effortlessly brought it in and only needed Kawamura-sensei to keep balance so as to not bump into anything.

“It certainly looks fragile,” Takahashi reached towards the edge of our roofless building. We stopped to see her hand grip the thin (in her perspective) wall.

“Ah, don’t touch it, Aoi-chan. You’ll break it off,” Yae warned. She certainly would. It was thinner than a wafer to her.

“I can see that now. Wow...”

“Aoi-chan?”

“I wonder if the floor’s just as brittle too then...”

“Stop stop stop stop stop!”

“Whoa. I was just joking. Stop hitting me.”

A chill ran up all of our spines for a moment before Yae pushed Takahashi away as quickly as possible. The girl was probably teasing us, but the idea of her raising her foot and stepping into the building we were all inside was not a funny one. 

Soon after, Yae’s visage appeared above us instead. “Sorry everyone. I’ll get Yae-chan out of the way, so don’t get mad at her, okay?”

Yae didn’t have to bow for Takahashi’s sake, but she did so anyways. It was odd seeing a giant woman bow. For starters, as much as she lowered herself, there was no way she could get any lower than we already were. She also completely covered the entire gym in her body’s shadow when she did so. It was more intimidating than anything else.

Still, Yae succeeded in getting Takahashi away since Sensei also wanted to scold her for not helping earlier.

“That’s our class’s voice of reason for you,” I heard. Yae was the most reasonable among all of us, I had to admit. I felt a little disappointed to see Yae go away, but she was trying to keep us safe.

She did at least for the start in any case. We were able to take part in some sports recreation for a while without any of the girls bothering us. For a moment, we were able to enjoy a little bit of normalcy again while inside our miniature gymnasium in the middle of the actual gymnasium.

After that, the girls started approaching to visit whenever they got to take a break from their game.

First was the gyarus.

“Hey boys, you up for a photo session?” Watanabe asked on behalf of the gyaru squad with their photography enthusiast Nomiya.

“Shino-non~, I totes don’t think I can get everyone’s permission all at once,” Nomiya was being the reasonable one, though the fact that she was tucking the phone she snuck into class in her cleavage told us she was the one to suggest the photo op. We were treated to the view of the undersides of their breasts blocking the view of their faces until Sensei caught them and made them run laps.

Some time later, Eguchi’s admirers showed up...

“Airi-chan, it’s okay. Don’t squirm so much.”

“B-but…”

“They’re the boys, not bugs or anything. Don’t freak out.”

“... Eguchi-kun’s there… But where...”

Or rather, they tried to. Shima’s poor reaction to small things was keeping her away. Yukimura was more than willing to lean in to see if she could find Eguchi, but he was blending in very well with the rest of us who were trying to play while under her gaze. I could swear Eguchi was beaming from being able to relax without his admirers right up in his face. Did the popular guy like them or not?

“It’s troubling having no time to myself. Even I want to just hang out with the guys once in a while,” Eguchi told me.

He earned the disdain of many of the single guys. Popular guys were so insensitive.

“Look who’s talking, Touya-kun...”

Honda’s clumsiness took a turn for the worse again too when a heavy earthquake outside the gym sent all of us to the floor. A few of us walked out to see Honda’s body on the floor, stretched longer than the building was wide. We pulled back into the building when she picked herself up off the floor after having tripped to get the ball that was sent out of court. Her body blocked out the light from the ceiling as she sat up.

More noticeably, her shorts clad butt was nearly touching the back side of the shrunken gym. Honda certainly didn’t have a heavy-build, but she did have remarkable curves. Her rear end which was taller than the walls of the building took up our vision when we looked in her direction. She had a lot of presence, and though some of us boys enjoyed the sight, we were also trembling as though we were looking at an avalanche waiting to happen. If she shifted just a bit further back, she would have bumped into the building and probably knocked down the wall. Worse, she could completely engulf a good chunk of the court underneath her butt.

“Oof… I got it… Eh?” Honda saw us all having fallen as well when she turned to us. We could see from her red face that she was embarrassed for having fallen again right in front of us.

“Oi! Honda-san, are you okay?”

“... Y-Yeah. I’m fine. S-Sorry, boys,” Honda replied. It seemed she was looking for somebody, but when she couldn’t spot him, she bowed and ran off. Her foot nearly kicked the building and Nakano who was outside of the gym after having gone around to use the facilities. 

“That was close…” Nakano told us. “I barely escaped getting sat on.”

We were a bit curious as to the view Nakano got, but a few of us boys, myself included, realized Honda had been looking for him. We began thinking of ways we could’ve helped set Nakano up with her, much to his embarrassment.

After Honda, Hozuki as well came over to us much to my annoyance, lording the basketball over our gymnasium as it was a massive building in its own right. 

“Yo, boys. How about a game?”

She reached down to my court in particular and, with her hand, tapped the floor. A few of us fell over and dropped the ball, earning her laughter.

“Hozuki, you’re worse than Takahashi,” I complained though my voice never reached her.

Hozuki was having fun interrupting our basketball game with just one hand. She blocked our shots with her fingers, blocked our paths with her palm, and plucked the ball between her thumb and index finger with ease like it was a piece of lint. The sporty girl was treating us like ants in an ant hill she wanted to mess with.

“Hey! Hozuki-chan!”

“G-Geh! Yoshikawa...”

Our Class Representative came later to pull her away. She also had to be scolded. Honesty, every girl in the class approached out of curiosity. There wasn’t a dull moment. We were all like a class pet they watched with mild interest. Was this why some kids kept ant farms? 

This was how our gym period passed, in any case - as a little attraction in the middle of the gym for the girls to come see whenever they wanted. What was the purpose of this part of the program, I wondered. Perhaps they just wanted us to get some exercise or perhaps they wanted us to get used to the girls looking at us while we did what was ordinary to us. Whatever the case, when Yae and Takahashi came again, we had grown used to it.

However, by the end of class, they came with a purpose, and it was still too early to leave.

“Ya- Mmph!”

“Found him.”

Before I could say her name, Yae’s hand came down and picked me up. My surroundings were blackened inside her clenched hand. It was only when Yae stood back up that she opened up.

“Hi Touya,” my eardrums were blasted by Yae’s powerful close range voice as she held me on her palm in front of her face.

“Y-Yae… Hi yourself...” I stammered out. It was hard to after being battered by Yae’s hot breath and loud voice right after being picked up and raised dozens of meters up. 

“S-sorry,” Yae noticed my discomfort and started to whisper. “I haven’t gotten to talk to you all day, so I was a little too enthusiastic.”

Another giant body came into my view as Takahashi grabbed onto Yae’s shoulder and leaned onto her arm. “She was feeling a little lonely. Are you going to do something about that, Kirishima-kun?”

“I-I wasn’t lonely, Aoi-chan.”

Though she was yawning, she was clearly enjoying poking fun at me and Yae.

“Well, in any case, you two are going to be going to see Sasakura-Sensei before class is over. Since you two signed up for the exemption, you need to get some things from her,” Takahashi yawned as she informed us. She more told me than she did Yae as she probably told her before they came.

“Things? What things?” I asked.

“Oh, you’ll see. Knowing you, you’d enjoy them, Kirishima-kun.”

I didn’t like how Takahashi phrased that, but Yae seemed content and calm. 

“Okay, Touya. Let’s head over there then. Hold on tight, okay?” Yae warned me before closing her palm up again. There wasn’t anywhere to hold on. In fact, she was the one holding onto me. “Uwah… This really is a surreal feeling, Aoi-chan. He’s even smaller than he was this morning.”

“Holding him in your hand? I told you. You’ll be getting used to it tonight, though, won’t you? All that and more, right?”

“I’m not sure I like what you’re trying to imply, Aoi-chan...”

“Ah, but maybe Kirishima-kun would like being in your shoe instead.”

“W-What?! A-Aoi-chan?!”

I nearly panicked at Takahashi’s words but Yae did so before me. I couldn’t do anything other than be taken along for the ride when she clenched her hand reflexively. Yae didn’t let go even after she calmed down either. I tried to regulate my breathing inside the hot, cramped grasp of my childhood friend as she left the gym while in her PE clothes to get to the nurse’s office.

“So that’s what you were all doing moving around today… It must have been surreal...”

“Everything about this week is,” I told her shouting as loudly as I could. It was hard for Yae to hear me over her own footsteps.

“I thought today would be more like yesterday, but I guess the program wants you to experience all of these things. I wonder what they have planned for tomorrow then.”

I didn’t know. The ones who did were the other health committee members. Though I was among their group, Sensei said it’d be best for me to go in partially unawares so that I could get the full experience. That was probably why Sensei wanted Yae and me to come. Since I wasn’t going to be with the other boys after school ended, I was going to have to be informed separately.

“Well, I have to admit, Touya,” Yae changed the subject with a giggle. Her other hand’s index finger obscured my view of her as she poked my torso and face with it. “You look adorable like this.”

“H-Hey, cut it out, Yae,” I tried turning my head away but it was held tight in her grip.

Yae flinched at my shout. Though it wasn’t loud to her, she was still being cautious, so she took my words to heart. “Sorry, Touya. I never thought you’d be so small. Am I that scary in your eyes?”

“I’m standing on your palm like it’s a moving platform, and I’m 50 meters above the ground here. It’s a little scary, yes.”

“50? A-Am I really that big to you?”

It was a weird mixture of scary and breath-taking. Yae used to be a petite, gentle girl, but now, she was far from petite, and her normal movements were dangerously powerful. I was literally in the palm of her hands, and her fingers alone were stronger than I was. Just looking down and realizing Yae’s feet were a 50 m drop below me told me just how small and fragile I had gotten. 

That would only continue too as there was still one more day to go. When we arrived at the Nurse’s Office, we were greeted by two people.

“Oh, you’re both here.” “Ah. Asano-Senpai. That means Senpai’s here too.”

Sasakura-Sensei and Okazaki were waiting for us. I recalled Okazaki’s ecstatic behavior earlier this morning and realized why. She had probably been volunteering for all of the health committee work this week.

“You needed to see us, Sensei?” Yae hesitantly stepped in and asked. She cupped both of her hands together and released the grip her fingers had on me. I slid into the center of the right hand.

“Of course. If you’re going to be taking Kirishima home, I need to make sure you’re both prepared,” Sasakura-sensei said. “Asano, we need to go over the Reduction equipment and home care. Kirishima, you need to get a physical check up.”

So that was why we were called over. It made sense. As I wouldn’t be getting any assistance once we left the school grounds, it would be best if I got everything beforehand.

“I’ll give Asano the rundown, Okazaki, so can I leave Kirishima-kun to you?” I saw Sensei turn towards my underclassman. “This is your last chance, kiddo. If you act up again, I won’t let you help out tomorrow. And I will be asking Kirishima.”

“Y-yes, ma’am,” Okazaki recoiled from Sensei’s warning. She had apparently been messing around even when I wasn’t around. I wondered how she had been behaving around the other shrunken boys, and it seemed like she was doing the same to them as she had been to me. It wasn’t jealousy but it was an odd feeling knowing my underclassman was treating other boys the same way she treated me now that we were all Reduced.

“Be careful with Touya,” Yae requested as Okazaki approached. Though Yae was reluctant to hand me over to Okazaki, I literally changed hands like a traded trinket.

“It’ll be fine, Asano-senpai,” Okazaki’s hand closed around me, pressing me against her palm. “Let’s go, Senpai. The health check stuff is in the other room.”

I couldn’t reply, so Okazaki just took me over to the adjacent room while Sensei spoke to Yae. I could hear Okazaki’s happy humming as my entire world shook along with the swinging of her moving arm.

Click.

The sound of the door locking did not feel me with joy nor was the 10 cm fall onto the table when Okazaki let me go.

“Fufufu~n! You’re even smaller than you were this morning, Senpai,” Okazaki’s voice filled my ears.

Looking up, I didn’t see Okazaki’s face. No, I couldn’t. Instead, I found myself staring straight up at a massive pair of white panties many times my size. Okazaki had tossed me on the edge of the low table. Just by standing near the table, her skirt became a canopy that blocked her face and the rest of her body from view.

“Oh. Whoops,” Okazaki took a step back when she noticed. “If I can’t see you, I guess you can’t see my face either.” 

Had she done it on purpose? No, the ignorant expression on her face as well as the way she sheepishly rubbed the back of her head told me she hadn’t thought of that until she had already done it.

I braced myself as Okazaki knelt down so that her face was level with the table. The wind force from my 145 cm junior just bending down was nearly enough to push me off my feet.

Seeing my plight as I tried to endure her movement brought a smile to Okazaki’s billboard sized face. “Wow. I don’t even have to try to get a reaction from you now, Senpai.”

“You seriously need to be careful, Okazaki. You’re already kaiju level big to me, so I’d rather you know your own strength,” Since she was close enough to hear me now, I tried remaining calm and scolding her, but it came out sounding like a mixture of nervousness and agitation.

This only made Okazaki’s smile widen. “Did you like the Nao-jira act from this morning? I’m having the time of my life being so much bigger than everyone, Senpai. I thought it’d be weird once you got so small, but this is great.”

Was my junior awakening to something she shouldn’t have awakened to? Probably. Thankfully, she was being forced to do her work properly despite having an obvious interest in making the size difference between us clear. I could be a little calmer knowing that.

“Well, let’s get started,” I told her. “You wouldn’t want Sensei to get mad at you, right?”

“Erk… Right...”

That was the one bit of leeway I had over Okazaki. As such, she started to do her job. The physical check she had to do was written on a piece of paper on the clipboard at the table I was on. I could clearly see what was written on it as I walked over to the stage sized wooden board, so I would know if Okazaki was doing something she wasn’t allowed to be doing.

Even so, the information my junior had to collect was still more than enough to make her get up and close and personal with me.

“Height… 6.3 cm…,” Okazaki placed a ruler next to my body and smiled seeing it tower over me. She then put the ruler away and slammed her index finger down right next to me. The finger alone was longer than I was tall. “Yup. You’re still shrinking, Senpai. I wonder if you’ll just be the size of my finger tip tomorrow.”

“I probably will be. But then I’ll also be back to normal by the end of the day too.”

“Oh right. That’s no fun.”

Weight was the next measurement Okazaki needed to get. Since I was too small to get a reading on a normal scale, she had to pluck me up and deposit me on a digital scale like what we typically used in our science classes. “Hm… 3.4 grams… That’s light, Senpai. No wonder it hardly feels like I’m holding you.”

Was I really that light? To be around three grams put me lighter than even the metal paper clip holding the papers I was standing on together. It was no wonder that Okazaki could send me flying so easily with just her movements.

Just to confirm, Okazaki actually picked me up in one hand while holding a paperclip in the other. She agreed that I was lighter.

After those two, Okazaki had to get much more in depth data than I expected.

“Sorry, Senpai. I’ll need to hold you still for this.”

“Whoa, wai- Mpfh!” was all I could get out before Okazaki pinched me between her fingers face first.

Torso length and width, leg length, arm length, head length, foot length - a lot of data had to be gotten, so Okazaki had to measure every part of me carefully. I was manhandled as she pressed the ruler against all parts of my body while holding me still with just her fingers. 

“Fufu~n!” Okazaki giggled as she continued. As she measured, she got less and less forceful as she got more used to it. It was probably for the better because she was going to have to do this to the other boys as well later. I was basically her test run before the real deal.

It didn’t make it any more enjoyable unfortunately. Okazaki enjoyed adding comments about my size at every opportunity.

“Looks like my thumb’s bigger, Senpai.” “Hold still, Senpai. Your head’s smaller than a grape right now, so I need to be careful.” “I wonder how long it’d take you to run a meter with those legs, Senpai.” “Senpai, you barely measure up with the ruler.” 

She couldn’t resist doing so. I knew that. Okazaki never got to be bigger than others normally so she was enjoying it while she still could.

“Are we done yet?” I asked after she finally put me down. I was exhausted from having my entire body in her control. Despite not moving, I felt like I spent a lot of energy simply enduring the repeated measurements.

In comparison, Okazaki hadn’t spent any of her energy at all.

“Almost, Senpai. Just the pressure check is left. Fufu~n! I’m going to enjoy this.”

Pressure. If it was just that left then we would be finished soon. Not much time had passed since the physical had started, but it was still nearing the end of class. Yae and I had to go back and change before we could go home, and my clothes were still in the mini-locker room.

“Hm…? Wow, you don’t seem the least bit panicked about what I just said, Senpai,” Okazaki noticed my lack of concern.

“Why would I? If you need to push down on me to check how much I can take then go ahead. It’s your job, isn’t it? You’ll need to do this to the other guys too.”

“I should have known that’d be how you’d react,” my answer made my underclassman giggle. “I thought you would have started freaking out, but this is charming in it’s own way.”

“Charming… I’m dedicated to Yae, you know,” it was uncomfortable having Okazaki’s finger hovering directly above me.

“I was too slow…,” Okazaki casually stated. “You’re no fair, Senpai. I want someone to pay attention to me as much as you do to Asano-senpai.”

“I pay enough attention to you, don’t I?”

“That’s the problem,” Okazaki pouted and puffed up her cheeks. I knew full well the reason why. I simply didn’t answer because she was going to be able to vent anyways.

Okazaki forced me to lie down on the table and took out a pad of the same material the safety soles were made of. It had a metal rim around it with a digital readout, suggesting to me that it was a sensor. Okazaki then placed it on top of my body. I was completely covered by it. It felt like a heavy tarp had fallen over me.

“Here we go, Senpai. I’m about to apply some pressure,” I heard. “Fufu~! Just for you, Sensei gave me free reign to do this however I could, so how about you get a little ‘kouhai service’ from me?”

I couldn’t exactly see anything while surrounded completely by the pink protective mold, but I could tell Okazaki was being mischievous again. I could at least tell Yae I had no control if she did anything too uncouth, and I could still tell Sasakura-sensei if Okazaki went too far.

Slam!

Nonetheless, my entire body was put under extreme pressure as Okazaki put her weight on me. I could feel the entire table shudder as Okazaki did something. The pink square pressed down all around me, forming a mold of my body just like with what happened when Yamaguchi stepped on me earlier today. Unlike with Yamaguchi, the pressure Okazaki put on me was weaker but lasted much longer.

“Mmph...” I struggled to open my mouth and eyes, but it was impossible while being pushed down.

“Fufufu~ Do you know how you’re being squished, Senpai?” I felt Okazaki’s words reverberated throughout my body. She was definitely using her own body. The table shook along with her little motions. My best guess was her butt. She must have jumped onto the table and sat down. I was being pressed down against by my short kouhai’s now enormous rear end. Was she putting her entire weight on me? She was moving too much to not be.

“Grk… Oof...” I tried moving, but the pink material kept me in place. I expected to run out of air the cramped space between the table and the mold, but material was surprisingly breathable. I would have appreciated it if I wasn’t breathing in the smell of my underclassman. Okazaki was a girl, so she smelled like one, but with my size and the fact that I was confined underneath her, my nose could only breath in a sharp, salty, and pungent smell. It was almost dizzying.

The pressure and suffocating feeling were finally alleviated when she was satisfied. Okazaki took the pink mold off of me, giving me a chance to breathe while she inspected it. When I finally caught my breath, I saw her giant figure holding the mold with one hand and touching her butt with the other.

“W-Wow. You really made an impression on this, Senpai,” Okazaki swallowed her saliva. “I didn’t think I pressed down that hard, but this is your...”

It seemed Okazaki had been affected by the sight of my tiny body having been molded onto the pink material. She was red in the ears and obviously sweating. I clearly had to watch out for her. I hoped she’d behave more normally after this week was done, but I was sure she’d start bugging me in the future about Reduction again. If anything, I could only hope she’d just leave it with just me and not bother any other person.

“In any case, that’s the last of the things to check,” Okazaki approached and pocketed the pink square. I could see from her shifty eyes that she wasn’t supposed to take it along, but I said nothing. So long as she didn’t do anything too extreme, it’d be fine with me. 

“So are we good, Okazaki?” I asked, interrupting her clearly improper thoughts.

“Y-Yeah. Sensei said you should be able to handle getting stepped on even without the Safety Soles when you get smaller, but you should still be careful, okay? It’ll still hurt,” Okazaki gave me some information about my current status.

“Oh? That’s a surprise. I guess safety’ll be less of a concern then? Is that why you sat on me?”

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about, Senpai. Come on, I’ll take you back to Sensei,” Okazaki was quick to change the subject. I couldn’t say a word as my body was snatched up by her hand and returned back to the main room.

I was thankful to be returned to Yae in any case. After being taken back and put in my childhood friend’s hand, I was greeted by Yae’s enormous face leaning in.

“Touya. Is everything okay?”

“You’re free to answer honestly, Kirishima,” Sensei stated. “Consent is an important thing in this world. Even if you are currently Reduced, you should let us know if Okazaki did something you don’t approve of.”

“I-I didn’t do anything wrong!” Okazaki shouted.

“It’s fine,” I defended her. “I’m fine, Yae. Okazaki’s looked like she was getting used to handling people my size. If she has to do this for the other guys, she should be fine as long as she’s careful during the pressure check… And shuts up.”

“Senpai!” I earned my underclassman’s affection.

Yae didn’t seem to appreciate Okazaki’s unconscious approach towards me and stepped away. She held me in one hand while holding a paper bag in the other. That must have been what Sensei had talked to her about and given her.

“You can tell me about it later then, Touya,” From her tone of voice, Yae didn’t request. She demanded. When it came to Okazaki, she was more than just cautious. I understood why, though I considered leaving out the fact that she chose to sit on me during the pressure trial. I technically didn’t confirm that anyways.

“Well, if I have to then you can tell me about what Sensei told you, too.”

“A-Ah… About that, I think the details will have to be a bit at a time,” Yae surprised me with her statement. “Sensei said to show you all of the equipment slowly.”

“Slowly? Well, I guess that adds a little bit of a surprise,” I accepted and turned around on her palm to Sensei and Okazaki. I gave them a little (literally) wave that they could hardly see.

My waving ended when Yae signed and closed her palm. “I guess we should head back then. We still need to get changed too. Thank you, Sensei. I’ll make sure to follow your instructions.”

“Please do. There’s a good amount of flexibility, so you can do anything else, but just make sure when you get home that you follow what I wrote down to the letter. And don’t forget to ask your mother for permission for the other thing. As for what’s left in that bag, just see if you can make use of them.”

I wondered what Sensei had spoken to Yae about, but I would be hearing it later anyways. Yae was an honest girl much like I was a bit too blunt. With just a bit more to the class period left, she left the nurse’s office with me in tow.

The end of the school day came and went. After changing and getting back to our last class, we boys were once again relegated to the floor. I couldn’t ask Yae about the bag as a result, but at the very least, the last period went by quickly. We boys were too tired to explore so we spent the time sitting together chatting and sharing details. There were worries about the size of the dormitory now that they had gotten even smaller over the day, but a number of the guys were more concerned (and interested) in how I was going to be with Yae.

I didn’t want to give them too many details, nor was I exactly sure about how things would go as well. Sensei had given Yae stuff so that she could care for me for the night - that much I was sure of. Other than that, I had no clue how things would go.

We were back at the shoe lockers we started the day at. Yae had placed me in her empty locker while she took off her indoor shoes. I made the decision to keep my own shoes in my bag to not have another repeat of this morning. It probably would be worse now too, I realized when Yae’s house sized shoes swept over my head as she put them into the locker. I could smell the dirt, dust, and the rubber-like odor of the Safety Sole as it passed by.

I was around 9 cm tall when I was in Yae’s shoe that morning and now I was around two-thirds of that at 6 cm. It was clear that I had gotten smaller just from how much more expansive the shoe locker had gotten. I certainly didn’t want another encounter with the inside of Yae’s shoe again, so I was honestly frozen by the sight of her indoor slippers when she placed them inside the shoe locker.

“Touya?” Yae noticed my unmoving body. “What’s the matter?”

“A-Ah… Nothing much… Just a little intimidated, I guess,” I replied.

“I would’ve thought you’d be used to girls’ shoes by now since you were on the floor all day,” Yae told me her opinion.

“There’s no way I would be,” I was exasperated by the thought. From Yamaguchi to Yukimura to Takahashi, I never wanted to see a girl’s shoe again… Not that such a desire would be possible while inside Yae’s shoe locker.  “In any case, how are you taking me home? I’d like to know before you do it. This morning was fun but a little stuffy since your uniform’s kind of tight around the chest.”

“I-Is it?” Yae couldn’t tell whether to be embarrassed or happy at what I was implying. “W-Well, I’d love to do it again honestly, but Sensei told me to try something for the trip home.”

“What, really?”

“Sensei gave me a few things. She said half of these are things she recommended I use for your sake, Touya. The other half are things she wants us to test out to make sure they work.

I was curious, especially about the second half. I understood the first half was for my care and comfort because I wasn’t going to be in a safe and heavily regulated place like the Reduced Boys Dormitory. The others must have been extra items the government handed her in case they could be used (or so they could be tested in the field). I wasn’t being used as a government guinea pig, was I?

Yae wasn’t going to be willing to use the second half right from the get go in any case. What she did pull out, however, was a crystalline sphere that fit in her hand like a tennis ball. Attached to it was a metal chain.

This was the first of the Reduction equipment she had been given.

“Ta-da~! Sensei said this was something I could use to take you around. She said it would shrink along with you, so it should stay a perfect fit. Here,” Yae placed the sphere in the smooth metal shoe locker. The chain prevented it from rolling. I stepped over the metal chain to inspect the enormous glass orb.

“It’s hollow. Not only that, but I can open it up…,” I discovered. It reminded me of a hamster ball, though judging by the length of the chain, it seemed as though it would be a necklace for Yae to wear. I’d be relegated to being part of her jewelry while she walked around.

“It also has a speaker inside so you can talk to me it seems,” Yae informed me as she clipped something to her ear. It looked like a wireless earpiece. That must have been what the speaker was connected to. If I got too small later on, she’d be able to hear me at least.

“Well that’s good… Hm…? This isn’t glass…,” I tapped on the orb to find that it was not as solid as I expected. It wasn’t the same material as the Safety Soles, but it was certainly squishy despite its transparent shine. It was more like a rubber ball. I supposed it’d be safer that way if I was being bounced around inside. I was more concerned about the ability to breathe inside the sphere, but it seemed there was a vent in place where the orb was connected to the metal chain. Actually, it seemed it had air conditioning and heating too judging from the switches on the panel. “Wow. High tech.”

Yae nodded. “I hope it’s good. Sensei told me some offices carry their Reduced translators in these so they can be moved around safely.”

“Then I guess it’s certified safe. Let’s try it out then,” I decided and hopped on in. It certainly felt like being in a hamster ball. When I had my feet to the bottom of the sphere, I could stretch my hands up to hold the top. It was a perfect fit for my size, and I could touch the panel that allowed me to adjust the vent and filters with ease. The breath of fresh air coming out was welcome after being inside Yae’s shoe locker. “Ooh. That’s nice.”

“Fufu~!” I heard Yae giggle. Turning to her, I saw her tapping on her earpiece. “I can hear you easily through this.”

That was good to know. So Yae could hear me while I was inside. I’d have to be careful to mind my words. 

With my transport decided, Yae’s hand reached into her locker to pick me up. She held the ball I was stuck in carefully while looking through the transparent sphere with curiosity. I felt like a gachapon prize.

“This is still so surreal... ”

“There are other things Sensei gave you though, right? Isn’t it just going to keep getting weirder?”

“Well… yeah, but still...”

Yae carefully put the transport necklace on her neck and let go. I felt my stomach plummet before the rest of my body did. The chain had some slack to it, so the orb ended up around Yae’s chest. It was made clear to me that Yae’s bosom was fairly sizable considering I could see straight down to the distant ground below without being obstructed by Yae’s stomach or legs. 

It was also clear to me how small I was compared to Yae’s breasts since they dwarfed the orb that was shrinking along with me.

“Are you comfy there, Touya?” Yae asked. The orb swayed and shook as she moved to close her shoe locker. I hit the wall, but it wasn’t painful.

“It’s not bad in any case. I’m not that fond of the roller coaster shaking or the cliff’s edge view I’ve got here, though. Can you put me somewhere safer? Like maybe under your clothes?”

“I think you’d prefer seeing things than being stuck in the dark, though,” Yae told me before starting to turn red in the face. “And this ball’s a bit too big to stick down my uniform… well comfortably...  Maybe if it were smaller.”

“Oh, how about tomorrow then?”

“... Wow, you’re really gung-ho about it, Touya,” Yae laughed.

I certainly wouldn’t mind the sight, but I completely understood why Yae wasn’t going to be doing that for me while I was this size. At the very least, we knew I was going to be fine in the orb while Yae took me home. And this time, we could talk to each other.

“Well, let’s go then,” I told her. “Onwards, Super Robot Yaezakura DX!”

“T-Touya… I’m not a mecha!”

She was bigger than most mecha in anime anyways. Still, I wanted to say that since I was in a fairly comparable position. I also had to comment on my position before Yae said anything about me being an accessory she was wearing. I didn’t want her to mention that she was wearing me, her childhood friend.

With that said and done, Yae began to move and my container began to shift. It was going to be a bouncy ride home. 

It was, however, extremely roomy. That wouldn’t be a problem in most cases, but Yae jerked around a lot. I had to keep my arms and legs stretched to hold tight if I didn’t want to be knocked about whenever Yae walked. And unfortunately, Yae’s every step made the orb sway and bounce. I was knocked around the entire trip while attempting to speak to Yae. Though I complained to her, Yae couldn’t exactly steady her pace any more than she already had.

“I guess this is just one of those things you have to deal with when you’re Reduced,” I signed while lounging on the living room coffee table of the Asano family home.

After getting to Yae’s house, she took the necklace holding me off and returned to her room. I was fine with being left alone on solid ground so I could get my bearings straight. The constant tossing and turning of the orb had gotten me dizzy.

Yae had taken off the necklace and orb and placed it on the coffee table in the living room along with her book bag and the paper bag with Sensei’s items inside of it. She then went back to her room so she could change out of her school uniform. I considered changing out of mine as well, but that came with the risk of getting caught naked in front of Yae, so I chose not to.

After recovering, I prioritized getting out of the container. Pushing open the tightly sealed door on the orb was more difficult than I expected mainly because I didn’t figure out for a few minutes that there was a lever on the panel that unlocked it for me. I crawled out safely and took my things along with me. After which, I was free to look around and move about.

“It’s been less than a day, but the smaller I get, the more different everything looks,” I remarked as I tried to make sense of the living room.

The television we had played games with the night before was now so far that I wouldn’t be able to see the screen clearly. The sofa Yae often sat on towered over the coffee table like an expansive mountain range. The coffee table itself was a large field that took a minute to navigate from side to the other, and the distance to the floor, though smaller than a fall from Yae’s height, was still a multi-story fall. I had been able to at least get off of it yesterday afternoon though.

There was one other difference I realized.

“Where is everyone?”

It was quiet. I couldn’t see or hear any trace of Yuri or Ayame-san. Had they not come back yet? I couldn’t exactly tell from my position because I couldn’t leave the coffee table let alone the living room, but I would have expected at least Ayame-san to be around.

“I’m done, Touya,” I heard Yae’s voice call as she walked back into the living room in a casual loose shirt and shorts. She was fiddling with the hair clip in her hand which she had taken off.

“Hey, Yae. Took you long enough,” I stated, but because she had taken off her earpiece since I wasn’t inside the orb anymore she couldn’t hear me until she got closer. I waited until Yae pulled out a cushion and sat down by the coffee table to be able to speak to her. She crossed both of her arms on the table and rested her chin on them.

“Did I make you wait too long?” she asked.

“Just enough for me to be able to look around a bit. Where is everyone?”

“Okaa-san sent a message saying she’s taking Yuri out shopping because she has a project,” Yae told me. “They’ll be back before dinner, but I guess that means that it’ll just be the two of us for now...”

“Just the two of us? Alone?” I raised an eyebrow. I was interested not only in the situation but also in the way Yae drifted off.

Yae laughed at seeing me perk up, but her ears were red. “Weren’t we alone together last night, Touya? It’s a bit late to be getting excited now, isn’t it?”

She had a point, but this time, Ayame-san wasn’t at home. Neither was Yuri. This was a rare occasion. I would have liked to take advantage of it, but unfortunately, there was nothing I could really do. I couldn’t even leave the coffee table without Yae’s help.

Yae knew my intentions and sighed. “Please don’t try to tempt me, Touya. You keep doing that, y’know? One minute, you act like this, and the next, you tell me to wait. You’re a really moody and confusing person. It’s so hard to not figure you out...”

“I know. It’s 100% my fault, but there’s not much else I can do about being me,” I replied. I knew my own personality well enough to realize there were times I caused Yae a lot of grief.

“Well, in any case, this is a good opportunity…,” Yae started. She took the building sized paper bag off the desk and put it on her lap so she could sift through it. “I wouldn’t want to do this if Okaa-san or Yuri were around anyways. Sensei told me I have to. I don’t mind since it’s you and all, but even I have to admit it’s embarrassing.”

“Oh?” Yae was taking something from Sensei’s bag, so I wanted to get a closer look. My stride being what it was, however, I couldn’t make it to the edge of the table in time before she had actually found what she was looking for.

“Ah, here it is.”

I found myself staring at the opening of a spray can.

“Eh? Asano-san… may I ask what that is?” I resorted to formal language to request an answer.

“Sensei said to spray you with this when we got home. It’s one of her instructions,” Yae told me. I kept my eyes on the spray can but spotted out of the corner of my eye a folded sheet of paper Yae was holding in her opposite hand that had Sensei’s instructions.

“This is safe right? Can I perhaps ask what it does?”

“It should be. And no. I’m not supposed to say until after.”

That did not fill me with relief. If Yae was being hesitant, Sensei must have given her some rather mean instructions to do something to me. It was probably to give me the full Reduction Week experience, but I would have preferred some prior knowledge. I braced myself as Yae pushed down on the spray can.

Fsssssst!

“Uwah!”

Cough! Cough!

“Gak! What is this, Yae?” I choked my question out. My eyes were tearing up from the sudden spray directly in my face and body. From what I could see, she had used the can and released some sort of purple smoke around me. Though it was just a small spritz, it lingered around where I was on the table for some time.

“Sorry, Touya,” Yae withdrew the can and apologized. “... Wow, the mist is still hanging around just like Sensei wrote. I hope it’s doing its job. Breathe it in, Touya.”

“Cough… What’s it… Cough… Supposed to do?” I continued coughing. I had to breathe it in?

“Sorry, Touya. I still can’t answer that. I’m supposed to do this next.”

“Next? What are you-”

Pomf!

“Mphfh!?”

I was suddenly swept off my feet by a large hand. Yae pulled her right hand towards her and pressed it up against her chest with me still on it. I was pressed into Yae’s left breast, my face meeting the thin cotton fabric of her shirt and the bra I could feel behind it.

“Hold on, Touya. Just breathe in,” Yae’s voice shook her chest and my entire body as she spoke. “One… Two… Three...”

Breathe, she said. That was all I could do, really. After having my sinuses and lungs assaulted by the purple smoke, I was being held against my childhood friend’s bosom. She had just changed, but she didn’t take a bath or anything right after coming home, so there was still the smell of sweat lingering on her.  Between her hand and her chest, Yae’s body and smell was enveloping me from all sides. The aroma was monstrously strong, more so than with Okazaki, probably because this was practically direct contact. I blacked out and fell into a daze for a moment as Yae’s scent filled my nose and lungs. It felt good but dizzying, perhaps like what getting drunk would feel like.

“Twenty-one… Twenty-two...” Yae was still counting. I wondered how long Sensei wanted her to do this. My head was getting hazy.

However, after about ten more seconds, that sensation disappeared.

“This is…,” my body felt numb, as though an electric current had run through it. Whatever the smoke I had breathed in was, it was dulling my senses and sobering me up. I had thought the Yae’s scent was strong, but it no longer was.

A minute had passed as I regained my senses. It was at this point that Yae let go of me. I found my body still hanging from a wrinkle in her shirt for a moment before slowly sliding off.

“How do you feel, Touya?” Yae asked, concerned, but she couldn’t resist to also add, “It felt better than with Okazaki-chan, right?”

“So you were bothered by what she did…,” I shouldn’t have told her. I did appreciate that Yae didn’t mimic the same body part Okazaki used. “Well, I at least think I know what this thing did…”

Yae placed the spray bottle next to me. The giant metal cylinder was more than five times my height and many more times my weight. On it was a government seal and a label.

“24 Hour Sensory Mitigation Spray.” It wasn’t very detailed for a name, but from what I could tell, it dulled my senses slightly so I could avoid any extreme sensory overloads like with Yae’s smell. I recall being enchanted by Yae’s post-bath smell the previous night, but thought it was just because I liked her. Perhaps my height made me more susceptible. I was certainly sensitive to sounds like the alarm clock. Maybe I was reacting to Yae’s pheromones or something.

“Sensei said you needed to experience the effect without any warnings. If you were acting weird after, I would have to spray you again,” Yae told me. She was still blushing from having had to hold me up against her chest. “And if that was the case, I’d have to do that again too...”

“I think I’m fine in any case,” I assured her. “Though aren’t there other things you could’ve done instead of pushing me against your chest?”

“Um… Tell me, Touya. Would you have wanted my armpits or my feet? Sensei suggested those first,” Yae raised her arm up so that her shirt sleeve fell back, showing me her bare armpit. She then brought up her knee so that I could tell she was raising her foot. “I was told I could do ten seconds with those instead of a minute against my chest.”

“... Can I have some time to think about that?” I asked her for time to deliberate with absolute seriousness. I wouldn’t get it, of course, though that did make me wonder if the boys at the dormitory would have to go through something similar or if there was a less up-front method. 

“I guess I should be glad you enjoyed it,” Yae laughed at my honesty. “Well, that should make it easier for you as you get smaller. My voice should get easier to handle too. I don’t have to whisper as much later today I hope.”

That was good to hear, literally. I watched as Yae continued rooting through the paper bag. I could tell we weren’t done yet.

“We’re not done yet, though, Touya. I have more things for you from Sensei.”

“Do they involve more close contact with a giant woman?” 

“Um… Actually, some of them could… I’m really glad Yuri and Okaa-san aren’t home yet,” Yae realized. “Urgh… Maybe you should’ve just stayed with the other boys, Touya.”

“And miss this? No way,” I stated bluntly. “And it looks like you’re not that against it either.”

“I’m not, but it’s embarrassing when you think about it.”

“Aren’t most of the things we do embarrassing?”

“You have a point, but I don’t like it when you put it that way.”

The next thing Yae took out was item number 3. It was sealed inside a small case much like an SD card, so she was careful to open it. After she did, she poked it with her finger and brought it down to the table where I was.

“Here you go, Touya,” Yae lowered her hand down to the table. I saw what looked to be a shrunken metal belt on her fingertip.

“Am I going to have to pose, yell ‘Henshin’, and transform?” I asked as I took the belt from my childhood friend’s finger. It clung to Yae’s skin so I had to put in a bit of effort to peel it off. I didn’t need to be told to put it on.

“You could if you want to,” Yae giggled and pulled out her smartphone. “This is just so I can tell where you are.”

So it was a tracking device. The Tracer Belt and tracking app were a set. Yae showed the screen to me, and I saw just how accurate the government sensor was. It not only had my current height and weight recorded on there but also my coordinates and how far I was away from the phone.

“Sounds like a good thing to have since this is a big house, but you won’t lose me will you?”

“I hope not, but I think Sensei wanted us to use number four for a reason.”

Item number four was one of those things Sensei and the government wanted us to test out. Yae was careful to bring it out because it was another shrunken item. This one was in a bigger box, though. To me, it was a large package, but Yae held it in her hands like it was just a matchbox. Placing it on the table, she undid the lid and I was able to look inside.

“Oh… I see where this is going,” I realized upon seeing just what it was that Yae had been told to give me.

“Is this really safe? Sensei said to let you try this out because you’d probably be interested, but this is one of those extra things… It feels really excessive...”

I certainly was, but I didn’t complain. What Yae had given me was a set of various items: a harness, a helmet, wire, and gloves were among them. This was very clearly rock climbing equipment.

“Sensei wants me to go exercise, huh?” I laughed while putting on everything. “So I guess this is so I can move around a bit while I’m still big enough to.”

“Sensei wanted to ask if you’d be fine with seeing if using all that was… what’s the word? I think it was intuitive,” Yae explained to me what Sensei expected. “She said you can use that however you want as long as you’re still big enough for it.”

As nice as that sounded, I probably would only be using it just once. I wasn’t exactly that good at rock climbing, and I had to conserve my stamina as my body would just continue to get smaller.

“Still, you said earlier that could involve close contact,” I recalled Yae’s words. An idea popped into my head. “Hey, are you thinking the same thing that I am, Yae?”

“E-Er...” Yae’s eyes shifted away but she couldn’t deny it. “I probably am…”

“Should I try climbing you? It sounds like it’d be a lot more fun than just wandering around.”

“Uuu… that… isn’t really holding back, is it?” Yae tried to fight her desires. I certainly wasn’t fighting mine. I wondered if my was being more unrestrained because of my constantly changing size. I sure felt like I could be more forward if Yae allowed it.

Still, Yae was impressively honest. “Actually, when Sensei suggested this, I did ask if we could give climbing me a shot instead of just letting you go around the house. She said I wouldn’t be able to try the Tracer Belt tracker like that, but she said it was up to me…” 

I was happy to know Yae was as like minded as I was, but I could tell it was difficult for her to fight her desires while waiting until we graduated. As long as we didn’t go too far, we would be fine, I hoped. We still wanted to enjoy our youth, but this was the problem when we both were tempting one another while trying to be good kids.

“Well, if you’re offering, I’d love to try it out,” I told her after making sure to put on everything.

Through her blush, I saw her nod. Yae was willing. I was too.

“Well, don’t mind if I do.”

I swung and toss of the rope I had been given, hoping it would catch onto Yae, but my arm strength couldn’t get it to even half the distance to her chest. I vastly underestimated the difference in size between the two of us.

“Oh... ” If there was a mood, that had just ruined it.

“Let me get that for you,” Yae tried to hold back her laughter so as to not embarrass me.  She wrapped the long rope around her neck. I would have considered that dangerous if it was a normal rope, but the shrunken rope was as thin as a loose strand of string to her. If she wanted to snap it, she easily could.

I quickly found a problem with having attached the rope to me, however. 

“W-Whoa!”

As Yae pulled the rope towards her, she pulled my entire body as well. I was dragged along with the rope I was tied to as Yae leaned back onto the sofa behind her. My feet left the table and I  swung through the air like I was on a vine.

“Oof!”

“Huh? K-Kyaa! Touya!”

I heard Yae’s voice after I hit a solid wall. It was soft and had a pungent smell. Thanks to the effects of the spray, I wasn’t overwhelmed by the scent, but I quickly realized I was in a place I shouldn’t be when I realized what I was clinging onto.

Yae’s shorts, or more importantly, her crotch was right in front of my body.

Without giving me time to get away myself, Yae pulled on the string and pulled me away. I found myself dangling on the thin rope and lifted up before being placed atop her stomach.

“I- I said you could climb, but t-that place is off-limits,” Yae told me while trying not to move too much. She knew it would be bad for me if she shook me off. Even so, I could feel her grip strength through the rope she tightly held. Her embarrassment could direct that power on me if I wasn’t careful. 

“R-Right. Yes, ma’am,” I gave her my agreement.

“... Good then,” the titanic girl sighed. “I’ll try to stay still, so go ahead and try your best, Touya.”

I was fully equipped to do it, so I gave it a shot. Looking up from Yae’s stomach, I found her protruding breasts obscured her face. I was going to have to pull myself up along with the rope to get over them.

“This sure is surreal,” Yae voiced her thoughts while trying to look past her breasts to see me. “Touya, this is only until Okaa-san and Yuri get home, okay?”

That was fine by me. It would be hard to explain to Ayame-san what I was doing scaling her daughter’s body after all.

“Alright. I feel like a manga protagonist here. Let’s go then. Attack on Yae!”

“Hey, Touya! Be careful there!”

Yae and I were doing homework together by the time they got back since Yae forced me to. I appreciated getting to copy her notes, but I really didn’t want to work. Yae wouldn’t let me be free of homework when she couldn’t be unfortunately. Ayame-san told me she would get dinner ready and asked us to keep Yuri company. Considering Yuri was complaining about having to start on her school project later after dinner, we relented.

“Onii-chan, let’s play hide and seek! I want to see if I can find you!”

I thought that would be fine, but it wasn’t really possible to cover much distance in a minute at my size. At just over 5 cm tall, I could get past Yuri’s striped sock foot and one step away from her by the time she reached 10. At thirty, I was still within her line of sight. 

Stomp!

“Wah!”

“Found you Onii-chan! Nishishishi~! You didn’t get very far!”

I didn’t like the idea of being on the floor with Yuri around. She wasn’t as cautious as the girls in school. In fact, she wasn’t afraid of stomping. I was blown away fairly often by her steps. Yae tried to tiptoe gently while barefoot, but Yuri was sliding across the floor in her socks and jumping about. It was clear to me that escaping a kaiju sized girl was impossible on foot.

There were not many places to hide on the floor either. Even after Yuri extended her count to fifty, I couldn’t leave the living room since I couldn’t make it that far in time, and there were only so many things on the floor. On the second match, I managed to crawl under the cushions by the coffee table, but that was the second place Yuri looked after putting her face down onto the floor to check under the sofa.

“Uwaah!” I shouted as my ceiling disappeared when Yuri picked the entire cushion up.

“Yay! I win again!”

We opted against me searching for the girls because it would take forever for me to get anywhere, but Yae played as well. The same result came with her searching. Actually, she cheated on one game by using the Tracer Belt’s tracker.

Pluck!

“Uwoah!” I made a sound when Yae simply plucked me off the ground from where I was hiding behind the table leg. She wasn’t even looking at me, just her phone.

“Onee-chan, that’s no fair for Onii-chan.”

“I just wanted to make sure if it worked. And I knew he was there already.”

When she had a birds’ eye view of me, it must’ve been obvious. Still, I would have at least thought being this small would have made me harder to spot. As it turned out, Yae only had a hard time distinguishing me from the other guys when we were on the floor at school, but she could see us all easily. Now that she only needed to find me when I was the only Reduced person around, the task was a breeze for her.

A few games later, Yae tried to help me hide, too.

“Here, Touya, in here,” she whispered to me before slipping me inside the pocket of her shorts. I couldn’t exactly argue, nor could I see what was going on outside while Yae kept me in her shorts, but the warmth I felt while waiting for Yae to (purposefully) get caught by Yuri was comforting.

Yuri found me quickly however, realizing Yae was acting suspicious. She stuck her hand inside Yae’s pockets and pulled me out. 

“Kyaa!” “Ngph!”

“Aha! Found a tiny Onii-chan!” She squeezed me tightly in her hand in excitement. I felt the air leave my body like a balloon being deflated.

“... You got me,” I exasperatedly breathed out. Being held in Yuri’s hands made me more nervous than being in Yae’s simply for the fact that the little ball of energy that was my neighbor’s little sister was in no way little. Her grip had been tight and rough - like I had been constricted by a giant snake. The power difference between myself and Yuri was like an ant and an elephant, and Yuri wasn’t as capable of restraining herself as Yae was. 

This continued until our last game which I felt was a bit much for me. Yuri liked Yae’s idea of hiding me and decided to copy her older sister. Unfortunately for me, her choice of a hiding place was not one I liked. I knew immediately when she started to take off her socks.

“Wait. Yuri, can we talk about this? I don- Waaaaah!”

“Onee-chan will never find you in here! Nishishishi~!”

“Blargh… No way...” I choked through the tears as I was tossed into Yuri’s striped sock. She left me on the floor beneath the sofa and went to hide while I struggled to find a way out of the pungent tunnel. It was damp from Yuri’s sweat and the sour odor was intense and muggy. The heavy air felt oppressive despite the effects other spray on my senses. I couldn’t tell which way was the way out and my body felt weak and dizzy. There was no sign of fresh air, and Yuri’s sock, heavy from both the size difference and the sweat it soaked up, pushed down on me. I was surrounded from all sides by the odor of Yuri’s sock. To think that I couldn’t even escape the sock of my childhood friend’s little sister…

Yae thankfully found me quickly. It wasn’t hard to realize when Yuri had suddenly switched to barefeet. I tumbled out of the sock when Yae lifted it up, finally able to breathe fresh air. She was more than mad at Yuri for subjecting me to that ordeal.

“Never again, Yuri!”

“But Onee-chan, you probably want to do that too.”

“N-No I don’t! I’m sure Touya doesn’t like this either.”

That spot of hesitance told me Yae had considered it, but I tried to block that knowledge out of my mind.

That was how my time was spent with Yae and her little sister before dinner. I was given very little time to rest in between games, so a breather was much appreciated while Yuri took out her project materials for Yae to see. The two girls were clearly not tired, but I sat exhausted in the middle of the coffee table as it became filled with arts and crafts scissors, popsicle sticks, poster paper, markers, and glue. 

There was also glitter. A lot of glitter.

“Whoa, hey, careful there Yuri. This is my only shrunken uniform,” I was cautious when her glitter glue bottle fell over and was nearly splattered by it. I did not want to get my foot caught in it let alone any other part of my body.

“Sorry, Onii-chan,” Yuri half-apologized, half laughed.

“Ah, that reminds me. Sensei did give me a clothes cleaning balm for you, Touya,” my words seemed to spark Yae’s memory. She pulled out what looked to be a lip balm stick out of the paper bag. Though she wanted to hand it to me, she stopped when she realized I was around the same height as it. I couldn’t lift it even if I tried. “Uh… If you want me to, I can clean your clothes right now.” 

“Save it for later, you two. Touya-kun, no taking your clothes off in front of Yuri,” Ayame-san interjected from the kitchen.

So it was alright if it was just with Yae? Well, when it came to using the Cleaning Balm, I and Ayame-san especially would have appreciated that. She really didn’t want me to be wearing the same set of clothes all week.

That was Reduction equipment number 5 in any case. As for number six, that came out when Ayame-san called everyone for dinner, or rather, called Yae and Yuri.

Tonight, I wouldn’t be eating the same meal as them.

“So we’re supposed to feed Touya-kun with this?” Ayame-san was curious about Reduction item number 6 which Yae had brought to the table. 

Yae nodded. “Sensei said Touya shouldn’t be eating regular sized food, so she gave me this. It might be like the buffet plate thing I saw during lunch today.”

“Okaa-san, you should put this on a plate too. It looks so cool,” Yuri suggested.

Item number 6 was apparently the largest of the things in Yae’s bag. I didn’t exactly approve of its design being made to resemble a bento box with a clear glass top, but it was actually a building. Inside it were cafeteria tables and a buffet of food much like from today’s lunch. All I had to do was step into the 8 cm tall box and go eat.

I did and found a smorgasbord of different foods sealed tight so that they wouldn’t fly out while Yae had brought it home. In fact, everything was strapped onto the surfaces tightly. I grabbed what I felt was enough for me and moved to one of the tables. Looking up, I could see the Asano family’s faces all looking down at me through the glass.

“Well, it looks like Touya-kun has something to eat at least, so I don’t have to be worried about that then,” Ayame-san smiled seeing me with a plate of food. “Just remember to eat your vegetables, Touya-kun. I’ll stuff you with a regular sized one if you don’t.”

To prove her point, Ayame-san used her chopsticks to bring a baby carrot over to the roof of the building. It was as big as I was. She then pulled back and put the entire thing in her mouth.

“This is so surreal,” Yae stated while unconsciously moving her chopsticks. As I was as small as a morsel of food and inside a building that looked like a box of food, that didn’t make me feel relaxed.

“Ehehehe~! Onee-chan, are you going to eat Onii-chan up?” Yuri didn’t miss Yae’s movements.

“W-What?! O-Of course not!” Yae was taken aback and flustered by her little sister’s words. There were plenty of things being implied but Yuri was too young to have understood them.

I was a little thankful I didn’t have to be a part of that conversation. There was a button on every table if I needed to speak into a microphone to amplify my voice, but I chose not to use it. I left Yae and her family to eat their meal while I ate mine in relative peace. I was going to make use of the shrunken building to experience normal size again as much as I could while I still could. I wanted to relax.

After that meal, however, while Yuri was made to do the dishes and after Yae had put the Bento Building away, I found the night was still young. Yae seemed nervous after checking what was next on the list of instructions from Sensei, but I did hear her say something about a ‘chance’. She left the living room with Ayame-san to talk.

“Okaa-san, Sensei said...”

“Eh?! She wants you to...”

“... Well, she said it’d be fine if… And Sensei said Touya’s under my...”

“Hm… You have a point…”

“... a little embarrassing but I want...”

“I guess this is a once in a lifetime chance… But if that’s the case...” 

Something was going on according to the conversation between Yae and her mother that they had in the hallway. I could only hear bits and pieces, but I knew it involved me. Yae did say that she was slowly bringing out all of the Reduction items. What was left on the list that Sensei wanted me to both use and test out?

My answer came when Yae returned to the living room and took a seat on her coffee table cushion. “Okay, Touya, let’s get going.”

“Get going? Where to?”

“Well… Sensei wanted to see if we could use the next thing, but I needed to get Okaa-san’s permission first. I’m also supposed to get your permission too, but I think you would probably say yes.”

Though I probably would, I would have also liked to know what I was signing up for. It was nice to know Yae was being assertive, or was it just because my opinion didn’t mean much now that she was going to be grabbing me in her hand?

Either way, I still wanted to know what it was.

“So what’s the next thing we have to do then?”

Picking me up with one hand and grabbing the paper bag with the other, Yae gave me her answer while I was muffled by her closed palm. “We’re going to be taking a bath together.”

“... Eh?”

So after dinner was a bath. A bath… Childhood friends like me and Yae had admittedly taken baths together before. When we were kids, there were times when we were in the same bathtub. Our parents were close and we were still children, so there really wasn’t any trouble at all.

That was when we were young though. A bath together with Yae at this age was unheard of. Not even with kids Yuri’s age would take baths would boys the same age as her. Yae and I were high schoolers, mature high schoolers who were nearing adulthood. 

I was surprised Ayame-san allowed this and even more startled it was being condoned by Sasakura-sensei who requested Yae do this in the first place. No, she didn’t simply say ‘Just use a sink and test it out’ she actually wrote down ‘Try it out in the bath’.

“I can’t complain, but Sasakura-sensei, you really shouldn’t be promoting this to high school students,” I mumbled to myself.

“Something wrong, Touya?” I heard out in the distance. Looking over in that direction, I saw Yae, or rather, there was nothing to see except Yae. 

“It’s nothing important, Yae,” I sweated not just out of concern but also from the heat.  “Urgh… this is hot…”

“Is it? Well, I guess this is bigger than any onsen, isn’t it?”

“More like an ocean.”

Of course, it wasn’t an ocean. I was taking a bath inside Yae’s bathtub... while she was in it at the same time. I wasn’t simply swimming in the bath water, though. I had all of the proper bathing necessities around me from soap to shampoo to towels. 

This was accomplished through Reduction Item number seven: The Indoor Open-Air Bath. A miniature onsen that could be filled with bath water was floating on the surface of the water Yae was bathing in. It was equipped with waterproof, watertight, and firmly affixed facilities and drainage pumps that allowed it to survive and float back up even if it was pushed under water.

To quote Yae, this was surreal. I was wearing my swim trunks and having an onsen bath on a 15 cm by 15 cm floating square that was between my childhood friend’s legs and her breasts.

Thank goodness Yae was also wearing a swimsuit. The frilly two piece from last summer was cute, but the frills couldn’t hide her cleavage, and to be between her spread legs, I wasn’t exactly sure where to look. I had a beautiful view of an island sized girl and a nice hot bath. 

“It’s like you’re a bath toy,” Yae remarked.

“And you’re like an island,” I gave her a counter comparison while looking in her direction.

“H-Hey, stop smiling like that. Really, don’t look so much, Touya,” Yae blushed, though from the way her eyes gazed up again after saying so, she clearly wanted me to look a little more. Yae was as much a queen of mixed messages as I was sometimes.

“Just be careful, okay?” I requested. “I’d rather not practice swimming in a place that has a drain.”

“I’m blocking it so you should be fine, but I understand why you’re worried,” nodded my childhood friend. “I’d rather you not do that either… I’m not prepared yet… At least give me a few minutes...”

The water was clear enough that I could see Yae’s hand in the water reflexively trying to cover her bikini bottom clad crotch. She was embarrassed despite having pushed herself to do this.

“Well, we both might as well enjoy this, right?” I suggested. “I know I sure am appreciating this view. I should thank Sensei for letting me see this.”

“No fair, I have less to see,” Yae pouted while her ears turned red from my comment. “You should do something to even this out, Touya.”

“I’m not going to strip.”

“N-No. I just wanted to watch… Wait, that’s not what I meant...”

“What do you mean then?” I raised an eyebrow, wanting Yae to get more flustered.

Yae struggled to work up the nerve to speak up. “Well, actually, Touya, maybe you cou-”

“You two better not be getting up to anything lewd in there!” We heard Ayame-san shout from outside.

“O-Okaa-san!” Yae’s body jerked as she shouted, flustered. I and the floating bath were nearly knocked over by her movement.

“Wah! Yae!”

“Kyaa!” Yae saw and heard me just in time to grab hold of the floating square before it tipped over and capsized. “S-sorry, that was my fault.”

“That was close… Is this how it feels when a kaiju destroys a ship?”

“Sorry…,” Yae bowed her head, pushing water as her body leaned forward. Her wet hair sending water flying in my direction with a powerful spray.

“Whoa, careful!” I raised my arms to protect myself.

“Sorry! Sorry!” Again, Yae moved, causing waves to rock the platform. I was already on unsteady ground but the wet floor made me slip and fall. I nearly fell back into the water again. “That’s my bad, Touya. I don’t think I'm ready yet for this.”

Ready for what, I wondered. Still, more than enjoyable, my current predicament was really dangerous. I wasn’t in any good condition after the near capsizing for the platform. It wasn’t exactly easy to enjoy a bath when the bath itself was being rocked about so easily. If there was any observation I wanted to make to give Sensei later, it was that.

“Gak… Well, if I’m going to get knocked off the platform, maybe I should just go all the way,” I gave up and stood up in the floating bath.

“Touya?”

I neared the edge of the platform and pointed up at Yae. I was ready to admit that the sight of her swimsuit-clad giant body all wet and towering over me like a mountain was gorgeous. I was about to recklessly approach it.

“Might as well just enjoy myself for a bit. If there’s an ocean, you’ve got to swim, right?” I told myself before diving into the bath.

Plop!

I hopped into the water beside the floating onsen and began to swim around. It was the same type of water as what was in the onsen so it wasn’t too different, but there was a definite change in feeling since this was directly Yae’s bath water.

“Uwaaah… You actually did it,” I heard Yae.

Swimming back to the edge of the onsen, I used one hand to keep myself from floating away and the other to push to activate the microphone and speaker. “It’s not too different from the onsen. I’m still taking a bath, aren’t I?”

“I thought you were afraid of the drain too… But Touya… I’m really not comfortable with you being here…,” Yae was red in the ears.

“It’s still the same bath, isn’t it? And let’s be honest, I’m in the mood for some exploring,” I regained my adventurous spirit from earlier today and swam away from the platform.

“Kyaa~! Touya! What are you doing!? Wait, where are you heading?” I heard Yae shout. I could feel her muscles tense through the ripples in the water. She had frozen up the moment I swam towards her. 

I couldn’t reply while swimming, but Yae had every reason to be flustered, in any case. I really could be a pervert. My destination was Yae’s breasts. They were floating in the water. Floating. Like islands. Among any of the other landmarks from Yae Island, I still probably would have chosen this one first if not second. I was a man with clear desires after all. I wouldn’t just deny them.

I swam as quickly as I could to my goal. I was curious how it’d be like to climb onto Yae’s chest. I had been pressed against it and also scaled it earlier, but a swimsuit clad Yae was an SSR rarity. I wanted to enjoy it. It was just going to take the effort of swimming the fair distance. Then again, everything was. The walls of the bath tub were far enough away that they alone seemed like distant cliffs. Anything beyond that was out of focus or blurred out in my vision due to the steam of the hot water.

“Huh? Touya?”

Unfortunately, my little adventure was cut short. I had been too slow to get there. Honestly, my pace was so slow, Yae had calmed down enough to see my miniscule body trying to make the distance. I hadn’t even gotten half way there.

“Is that it? Touya, that’s… That’s just...”

After realizing she had nothing to worry about and then getting angry from my reckless action, Yae decided to stop me. Her hands came up out of the water from below. Like a net, her cupped palms caught me and raised me out of the water.

“Wah!” I shouted as I found myself captured and brought up to Yae’s face. Her wet hair fell over her eyes and shoulders, but I could still see her glare.

“Caught you. Touya, that really wasn’t cool,” she frowned. I could tell she was more than just embarrassed.

“I’m sorry?” I was a bit nervous when I apologized. Yae clearly had all of the power here. I had known that all along, but she never showed it out of courtesy for me. My stunt had forced her hand, unfortunately, literally at that.

“I wasn’t ready yet, Touya. Don’t try that again,” she told me. It felt more like an order than a request.  “If you want to do something, you should ask me first. Get consent, okay? I need to prepare myself first.”

“Yes, ma’am,” I straightened up in fear. Yae was a gentle girl, but I may have crossed the line and gotter her angry. 

Yae sighed after hearing my answer. She lowered me back onto the platform and leaned back into the bath. I could feel the water level rise as she put more of her body into the water.

“You really are crazy, Touya,” Yae remarked. “Just why do I like you again?”

“Because I’m honest?”

“You honestly love me way too much… You really don’t make this easy, Touya. I thought we were supposed to be holding back.”

“We should be… Sorry, I guess I just lost out to temptation?”

“Well, I guess when you’re like this, I can be a real temptation…,” Yae chuckled. I was starting to get her approval back at least.

“I’m trying here. I know you are too, so can you forgive me?”

“I don’t think so,” Yae frowned. “You worried me by jumping in all of a sudden, and you were trying to swim towards my chest too. There’s such a thing as too much freedom, Touya. You can’t just do things without asking. I’ve been asking you properly, haven’t I?”

Mostly in any case… I guess getting permission was becoming a must for Yae while she was being flustered. I didn’t seem to be having any freedom right now seeing as I couldn’t exactly escape the bathtub and Yae’s grudge.  “Please forgive me, Yae?”

“Hmph. No way, Touya. Not after that,” she pouted.

“Really?”

“Really.”

“I’ll do any one thing you ask me to.”

“Anything?” Yae paused. She liked that idea. “... Well, I’ll think about it…”

Upon seeing the sparkle in Yae’s eyes, I probably should have rethought that. Unfortunately that was the first thing that came to my mind to try and appease Yae, and I had already said it.

“Wait… actually, let me rephrase that.”

“Nope. I’ll forgive you, Touya, but I’ll hold you to that.”

“Seriously? Can I get a rain check on this?”

Yae didn’t respond because she was satisfied with my proposal. I wanted to bargain further, but Yae wasn’t going to listen to me any more. She slumped her entire head down into the water and began blowing bubbles. The platform shook and rocked from her simple bubble blowing. More than me, it seemed she was the one who needed to relax and calm down her racing thoughts.

In the end, with Yae no longer willing to talk to me, I reluctantly returned to the miniature onsen and tried to bathe quietly. I debated whether or not I wanted to tell this story to the other guys when everything was over and wondered just what it was that Yae was going to ask me to do.

There was a lesson to be learned in all of this. Beware chasing the carrot dangling right in front of your nose. For someone my stature, I had been a bit too much of a daredevil.

“Anything, huh?”

It was somewhat nerve-wracking knowing I had promised Yae something I shouldn’t have. She wouldn’t let me forget it. She hopped back to her room with a spring in her step and deposited me on her desk before taking a seat on her bed.

“What should I have you do~?” Yae smiled.

“Go easy on me please,” I asked. “I’m only so big right now.”

“I’ll keep it simple. Don’t worry.”

Don’t worry, she said. 5.1 centimeters was my precise height at that moment. Well, 5.11 according to the Tracer Belt. Yae made sure to check that before she got ready with what she wanted to do. This was going to be an interesting night. I was sure about that.

Honestly, I was used to making the promise to do any one thing for Yae whenever I crossed the line. Yae often made me do something she considered ‘simple’ as punishment for my transgressions. If she was angry, she wasn’t exactly kind with her ‘simple’ requests though. When I pushed her a little too far during our first year of high school, she had me go through the gauntlet of buying the limited only-30-per-day sweets from her favorite cake shop for a week. Another time, she had me replace her on Yuri baby-sitting duty… when Yuri had six other friends over.

What was she going to ask while I was in my current state? Clean her room while being this small? Wander out into the hallway and into either Yuri or Ayame-san’s rooms? I had plenty of ideas what she could make me do. I couldn’t deny that I half-wanted to do those just to experience moving about on my own while small, but I also knew it was very risky.

Yae seemed to have something planned in any case. She continued to happily hum while she finished her after bath routine by applying moisturizing lotion on her skin. I kept staring as she rubbed the lotion on her arms, legs, feet, and neck. When she was done, she turned her attention to me.

For starters, Yae took out item number eight from Sensei’s bag of things. She carefully picked it up with both hands and plopped it on the desk.

“Oh wow. Is this a place all to myself?” I recognized it as a model house, or rather, a model room. It was another Reduced building - a bedroom. It was a bit bigger than Yae’s textbooks, but I knew it was only going to get smaller much like I was. 

“Fufu… This really does look cute, Touya. I can take the roof off too,” Yae took it off before I could even step inside. When I did, I found there to be no locks on the door other than a bolt lock. It was probably because there wasn’t going to be a need for locks when Yae could just pull me out from the roof.

It was a well furnished room. A bed, closet, and desks were all firmly affixed to the walls and floors. There was even a mini fridge and a bathroom. The bathroom thankfully had a roof that was firmly attached so Yae couldn’t take it off. 

What piqued my interest about the residence, though, was that it was definitely had been tampered with. For one, there was an odd note up on the bathroom door. It was a handwritten scribble stuck to it that said ‘Touya-kun’s Throne Room’. It came marked with a flower and a smiley face. I laughed at the message and walked inside. I found spare sheets and towels were provided but stored away so they wouldn’t be sent flying if Yae moved the room. Whatever company designed these buildings for the government knew what they were doing.

“It’s a lot like a hotel room, minus a television,” I saw that there were still electronic light sources so there had to be a generator somewhere. I didn’t pay attention to this with the gym or the dining box, but since this was just a single room, I noticed it now.

“How is it, Touya? Is the Portable Hotel Room good?” Yae was putting the earpiece back on so she wouldn’t have to lean in to hear me. I spotted the microphone affixed by the bedside and ran over to push the button to reply.

“I’d be interested in seeing an entire hotel of these rooms actually,” I spoke into the mic so that my childhood friend could hear. “And it looks like nothing’s out of place after all the moving it’s been through.”

“Okaa-san says Otou-san uses these sometimes when out on business trips. They’re supposed to be designed to be carried around before being used apparently,” Yae informed me.

That made sense. I opened up the mini-fridge to take out a bottled water. I was surprised when I saw another large note saying ‘Enjoy Kirishima-kun’ pop out. It was another handwritten one on a normal sized scrap of paper that had been cut out. Someone had clearly put it there for me, but it was a different handwriting than the note on the bathroom. This one was much neater, as though the writer was a professional calligrapher. I had a sneaking suspicion to who this one belonged to much like the first, but prioritized resting on the soft bed. Compared to the overly spacious sleeping bag, just sitting down on it was heavenly on its own.

“I could get used to a room like this. It’s way more comfy than my own room. This one even has some things reserved just for me. Did you see the notes, Yae?”

“I didn’t, but Sensei said two of your Senpais decorated it for you.”

“Ah… Then I can definitely guess who it was.”

I assumed it was Kamiya-senpai and Yanase-senpai. They were the ones in charge of managing the supplies the government delivered for the program, so only they could have put the messages inside. I knew Kamiya-senpai was fond of making models too, though her Gunpla collection was supposed to be kept a secret. Kamiya-senpai’s note was probably the neatly written one that was in the fridge while Yanase-senpai’s was the only one who called me ‘Touya-kun’ in the committee. 

“Hm… If it’s supposed to be like a hotel room, I wonder how they clean these,” Yae spoke to me from above. She brought her face extremely close to the point where I could only see one eye and part of her nose from where I was in the room. “Little maids?”

“They probably don’t have those. My guess is they won’t until they get them back. There are a bunch of spare sheets and stuff here for a reason,” I told Yae. I found it difficult to cap the bottled water with my shaking hands. There was something about having a literal eye in the sky looking down at you. I’d have been more comfortable if I saw all of Yae’s face honestly.

“Still, it looks like you like it.”

“Anything my size feels best honestly,” was my honest opinion.

My stay inside the room wasn’t going to be for very long unfortunately. “Okay, Touya. Can I have you get out for a moment? Take the mic with you, okay?” Yae asked. Considering she was tapping on the room to push the only thing not fixed to the walls and floor (me) towards the door, she was more demanding than asking. With no real choice, I put the bottled water back into the sealed mini-fridge and took the miniature microphone. Hooking it onto the collar of my shirt, I stepped out.

“Okay? What now?” I looked over at my childhood friend who was sitting in her chair. She still had her earpiece on, so she could hear me.

“Now, there will be no more bedroom for you,” I heard Yae as I saw her hand descend down from above. She easily picked up the room I was just inside with one hand. I couldn’t do anything but watch as Yae put the roof back on and slipped the Portable Hotel Room back inside the paper bag.

“So this is that ‘simple’ thing you want me to do, huh? Go to bed without that?” I frowned. Yae had given me a sample and then pulled the main dish away. “No fair.”

Yae didn’t seem to care that it was unfair. She stuck her tongue out at me playfully. “I’m not that bad, Touya. I’ll give it back, but you’ll have to earn it.”

“Earn it...? Oh...”

I watched as Yae placed the paper bag by the pillow of her bed. She then stood up to her full height, forcing me to crane my neck further back to see her face. She walked over to her bed and rested on top of the blanket. 

“This is what I want to see you do,” Yae told me while lying down on the bed. “I actually wanted to ask you this earlier in the bath, but you freaked me out when I wasn’t ready yet. I would’ve been fine with it if you just asked first, but now we’re going to be doing this on my terms.”

“Your own terms?”

“Yes... Touya, If you really want to get closer to me, now I’ll let you do it.”

So Yae wanted me to get to the hotel room on my own power. Yae was essentially beckoning me to get onto her bed. She was being remarkably forward. Then again, Yae admitted herself that she wouldn’t have minded me getting close to her. Her holding my room out of reach was just my punishment for not getting her consent first. I supposed that was fair. Consent was an important thing to ask for.

“Yae… I don’t know if you can really call this a punishment,” I told her through the microphone.

“You said you’d listen to whatever I ask,” Yae reminded me with a pout. “I’ve been thinking about this all day, Touya: I can physically make you do whatever I want. I won’t though because that’d be rude to you.”

“Right. Thanks for that.” I understood that Yae was being very considerate of me.

“But since now you have to do what I say, I don’t have to force you, right?” she smiled. “You want to make it up to me, don’t you? I want to do something since this is our last night like this.”

Yae sure was being pushy. I understood why in any case. She had been wanting to ask for my consent so we could get into some antics while I was still Reduced. She had just been too hesitant to ask me while we were in the bath. Now that I had gone and racked up a debt to her, she didn’t have to ask because I was now technically consenting in order to pay her back for my mistake.

My not-girlfriend was doing her best to define what was going too far and what wasn’t while we still weren’t officially dating.

“A girl’s thought process is weird… Then again, I think I’m the one who influenced Yae to be like this,” I mumbled to myself. This was my own punishment for making Yae wait and still act like I had been. She was becoming strange trying to accomodate me.

“So are you going to do it or not, Touya? You’ll be following what I tell you to do, right? I want you to climb me. And not just like when we were trying the equipment out. All of me.”

“Alright, I get it,” I started to stretch my body in preparation. “You asked for this, Yae. I’d never give up an opportunity like this anyways.”

Yae was prepared to give me a run for my money. If I wanted to get my bedroom for the night, I was going to have to meet her expectations. Getting to my goal was not the easiest thing at all, especially since the first hurdle I had to clear was just getting to Yae.

When you are only 5 cm tall, even a small gap is an expansive chasm. Could I just jump the 15 cm gap from Yae’s desk to her bed? No, not unless I wanted to plummet straight to the floor. Could I toss the rope from the climbing set over to the bed? Yes I could, but I couldn’t get it to catch anywhere. Could I climb down from the desk? Yes, but I wouldn’t be able to get up afterwards.

Yae watched my struggle to get over to the bed with interest. I caught her giggling every time one of my attempts to cross over failed.

“Would you like some help?” she asked. “I’m enjoying watching you, but I’ll fall asleep if you take too long. If that happens, you’ll be sleeping out on the desk on your own, Touya. I have other things planned for you, y’know?”

She sure was teasing me. Okazaki had been just as aggressive, but Yae hadn’t been as bad all day. Now she was. Was it because of my current height or was it just because I was now playing Yae’s punishment game? Whatever the case, she seemed to be having fun.

“If you’re offering help, sure I’ll take it, Yae,” I was quick to accept. I didn’t like how Yae was treating my attempts as a sideshow, but I supposed that came with the territory when I was only 5 cm tall. I wanted to stop showing Yae my repeated failures and at least progress a little bit to get to the main event.

Yae complied and brought her hand over to the table. She didn’t pick me up, however. She simply held her hand out to me to hop onto.

“Jump on over,” Yae told me.

I did as I was told. I had gotten used to using Yae as a method of transport, and so had she. I held on tight while Yae pulled her arm back. She didn’t bring me near the end of the bed where the bag was but instead the opposite side.

“Okay. That’s all of the help you’ll be getting from me, Touya. I want to see what you’ll do from here,” Yae told me while still holding me above the bed.

“Okay…? So are you going to let me down?” I asked, noticing she wasn’t lowering her hand any further. “Yae?”

“Fufu~!” I heard Yae giggle. I had a bad feeling immediately when I heard it. I felt a shift as her hand suddenly tilted to a nearly vertical angle.

“Waaaah!” I fell, but as quickly as the ground beneath me had disappeared, I was stopped before hitting the bed. My body felt the pain of a sudden whiplash as it was pulled upwards.

“Scared you, didn’t I?” Yae smiled. She had stopped me mere centimeters (from her perspective) before hitting the bed using the rope that was still strapped to me. She caught it between her fingers. I was dangling in the air like a loose yoyo, swinging back and forth towards and away her left foot. 

I scrunched my nose as I slammed into the wall of Yae’s foot. She had applied some lotion right after the bath, so it was smooth, but the remnants of the lotion clung to me. If I wasn’t careful, I’d be stuck to Yae’s foot before she even put me down. “Real funny, Yae.”

Yae laughed and let me rock back and forth into her foot a few more times. I tried catching myself with my hands to stop myself, but Yae’s gentle and subtle motions were still swinging me around at a speed I couldn’t easily stop. Both sides of my body became covered in Yae’s moisturizing lotion before my face actually stuck to the ball of Yae’s foot. The mix of the lotion’s lilac sent along with the saltiness of Yae’s sweat stained my tongue. Despite the sensory suppression, it was still a sharp sensation that made my nose scrunch up and tongue wince.

“Blargh… Gross… I think I’ll need another bath now,” I spat out the lotion and beads of sweat that had entered my mouth. Between the stickiness of the cream to the discord of the smells, I couldn’t call the experience pleasant.

“I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself. I’ll use the cleaning balm later. Just consider that your second challenge since I already gave you a freebie by bringing you over,” she smiled as she properly lowered me down.

I would have liked to ask her what other challenges she had in mind, but the moment I was placed on Yae’s bed, I spaced out.

“Whoa...” I was more than a little speechless at the sight before my eyes.

Yae in a striped hoodie and shorts was adorable normally, but I was standing at her feet while she sat on her bed, knees raised and held against her chest. Her 160 cm body was 32 times my own 5 cm body. I had been around girls all day while they towered over me like kaiju just standing, but seeing someone lying down was a new experience. 

Yae… How do I put it... I had considered her an island earlier while in the bath, but I honestly didn’t see all of her body since most of it was submerged and I was floating above it. Yae’s posture really put her size into perspective when I realized the trip up her legs was going to be a journey in its own right.  Yae wasn’t simply statuesque. She was a land mass I was now going to be traveling over to get to my goal. I felt insignificant in comparison. I recalled Shima’s reaction to us boys earlier today. I probably looked like a bug to Yae.

“Fufu~n...” Yae played with her bangs where her hair clip would normally be while she looked down at me on the blanket I was standing on. “You look so cute down there, Touya. If this wasn’t a white sheet, I think I’d lose you.”

Didn’t I know it. Yae did have her phone and I did have the belt, so she could still keep track of me if anything went wrong. It didn’t seem necessary though because my dark clothes contrasted well on the white blanket. I didn’t like the comparison because of how accurate it was but it was like seeing a black ant on white tile. 

I was about to start walking when my entire body was moved without my input. The entire bed shifted because Yae changed her resting position. Lying back with her head on her raised pillow, Yae stretched her legs out, nearly hitting me with her foot. The moment her leg stretched out, the blanket and bed bent to the weight of her body. There was a dip in the bed that pulled my 5 cm body closer to her the heel of her left foot. The foot itself was building sized on its own, and I found myself in its shadow while Yae adjusted her posture to better see me.

“Okay, Touya, are you ready?” Yae asked me while allowing her feet to sway left and right. Her right foot swayed towards her left side until it was almost horizontal with the bed. I backed away from her approaching toes. She happily scrunched them when she saw my tiny body by her heel.

“A-As I’ll ever be, I guess,” I answered. I stuttered. Seeing Yae’s feet reminded me of all the previous trouble I had today at girls’ feet. I was thankful for the sense mitigation spray because I could smell Yae’s feet thanks to how close I was. It would probably be unmanageable if I hadn’t had it used on me. I was actually able to answer her through the microphone.

“Good. Then I just have two rules for you, Touya,” Yae told me. “One: All you just have do is get over to the bag by climbing me. And two: If I make you do anything as a challenge, you’ll have to deal with it.”

“Something tells me that it’s a bit too late for that second rule,” I remarked.

“I just wanted to make sure you knew,” Yae was serious about not doing things without my permission. “And just so we’re aware, THAT place is off-limits still.”

To offer me a chance to walk around on her bed and her and then say that, Yae was a bit cruel, but it was understandable considering our ages and my current state. In any case, she was giving me a challenge: to get to her head from her feet.

That didn’t sound like too difficult of a punishment game. I doubted there’d be many other hurdles like the gap to the bed. With Yae’s smile, she signaled the start of the journey. I steeled myself for the trip. Whatever challenges Yae had in mind, I’d clear them...

… Until I realized what the third hurdle was. I couldn’t even start climbing Yae unless she allowed it.

“Um… Yae? It’s hard to start like this,” I told her while staring up at her building sized foot.

Yae was not kind enough to put her feet flat on the bed so I could climb up them. It wouldn’t have been fun if I couldn’t scale her body according to her. In fact, immediately after I said those words, I felt a tugging on the rope that was still tied to me. I looked in the direction of the pulling to see Yae’s hand still on it. She brought it to her big toe and tied the string around it.

“Of course it’s going to be tough, Touya. This is your next challenge,” she told me. “If you want to get to my legs, you’ll have to climb my foot first.”

“...You’re kidding.”

She wasn’t joking. That’s what she wanted me to do. I frowned as I approached the heel of her foot. I was going to have to scale it like the protagonist of a spy movie. I supposed Yae had been curious the entire time I had been Reduced how I’d react when put up against her. This was certainly one last night she wanted me to have.

“Well, it’s tight enough…,” I frowned as I made sure all of my climbing equipment that I was wearing was good to go. There was a machine, a hi-tech ascender, that would help me pull myself up if I lost my grip or was too tired to climb, but I knew Yae wouldn’t enjoy me using it right away. I readied it, but held off on turning it on. “Well, here we go.”

With my hands tightly gripping the rope, I put my foot on the skin colored wall that was the ball of Yae’s foot and began to climb. Rope climbing wasn’t my forte at all, but I was fit enough to at least start.

“So that’s how you’re starting,” I heard Yae. She was observing me with interest. “It doesn’t tickle as much when you climb that way at least.”

For that, we were both grateful. Yae didn’t want to be tickled, and I was afraid of the consequences of having an uncontrollable apartment sized foot swinging around while I was tied to it. I was also glad Yae had tied the rope to her foot. Climbing the rope and using the sole of her foot as a wall felt much simpler than the other option I considered - trying to find a place to grab onto with my hands and climb my way up that way. If I tried gripping onto Yae’s skin, I would certainly tickle her if not pinch her.

Well, considering how solid her skin seemed to be at the heel, I supposed pinching wasn’t in my strength. It was strange how Yae’s foot felt. It wasn’t as springy as I remembered whenever I messed with her and tickled her when we were kids, but that came with the territory of the difference in scales. Just as my thick rope was just a string to Yae, her usually soft skin seemed thicker than the walls of our school building to me.

Ascending wasn’t too tough, but it wasn’t easy either. As the lotion Yae applied on her skin earlier did not make getting good traction easy. I wished Yae applied it more evenly, but perhaps it was hard for her to notice the remaining traces.

In places where it had absorbed into the Yae’s foot, her skin was smooth and slippery. Yae laughed when I couldn’t get any footing and fell back down to the heel of her foot. In places where Yae hadn’t spread it well, I got my feet caught in it and had to kick and struggle to peel it off to keep going. It being primarily in the wrinkles of Yae’s foot, my actions made Yae shift a little, squeezing my leg between the folds of her skin. I lost a few centimeters of distance getting free. Again, Yae was surprised and amused by how easy it was for me to lose my position.

“Touya, if you keep falling, I don’t think you’ll be able to make it,” she warned me.

It wasn’t exactly easy to ascend a foot that was five times my height. Yae had petite feet, but I was even less than petite. Still, I climbed. My nose started to get acclimated to the smell of Yae’s sweat mixed with the lilac scented moisturizer. It still wasn’t pleasant being able to feel the strong scent in the air in addition to smelling it, but it was manageable. I used all of my arm strength to get up on my own up the apartment complex sized foot.

“Gah… Hah… Did it...” I huffed the moment I pulled myself up between Yae’s big toe and second toe. I had made it tougher on myself for not using the climbing set’s tools outside of the rope and gloves, but I felt pride in my fortitude in being able to scale a wall five times my size with my own strength and endurance.

That pride meant very little to Yae who was watching with a cat-like smile while resting her head on her pillow and playing with her phone. She had a clear view of me between her toes while I had a clear idea of the distance between myself and her face. “Good job, Touya. You finally made it. Maybe I should’ve recorded it.”

“Don’t take away from my accomplishment, Yae. And don’t film,” I told her while trying to catch my breath. The fact that the smell of her feet seemed to be concentrated between her toes didn’t help, but I didn’t care. I wanted to take off the rope now that I had passed the third challenge. I wanted to bask in my personal success as a 5 cm man. 

It was sobering to compare Yae’s toes to my own body, though. Yae’s big toe was almost as big as I was. All five of them were boulder sized to me, and they each moved freely and swiftly. I stood up and leaned against Yae’s big toe to rest. The toenail alone was bigger than my head.

“Grk!” My sides were squeezed roughly. I was caught off guard when Yae’s toes suddenly moved.

“Aha! Caught you,” Yae jokingly said with me between her toes. She pressed them together with very little force, but I was firmly held tight between them. What amounted to a fraction of Yae’s strength was enough to firmly keep hold of me. I tried to push Yae’s toes apart, but they had a pincer-like grip on me. I couldn’t fight it as Yae swayed her foot left and right, lifting me off my feet and taking me along for the ride. My head and torso were affixed in place, pressed against the slimy feeling lotion coated toes.

“Y-Yae, this is… a bit too much...” I struggled to speak. I smacked my hands against her toes, trying to tap out like a pro wrestling fighter, but Yae either ignored it or didn’t feel it. Actually, I was sure she was just ignoring me because she could hear me. She just kept squeezing me with her toes. 

“Fufu~n. Sorry, Touya. I just couldn’t resist. When you’re right there, I just had to do this,” Yae explained her reasoning. It made me recall Sasakura-sensei’s mention that this was certain desires came naturally to the girls when I was smaller. I then remembered what happened with Yukimura. I shuddered to think what would’ve happened if she actually got us. Yae was at least being gentle. I doubted Yukimura would, especially with Eguchi.

In any case, Yae was satisfied enough to let me go. That meant it was time for me to continue the trip to get my hotel room. I was ready to keep going and climb down the other side of her foot and take the next (literal) leg of the punishment game.

That is, if it weren’t for a sudden mistake on Yae’s part.

“Okay, let’s continue, Touya. Sorry for holding you up.”

“Uh, Yae, can you not curl you foot too mu- Waaaaaaaaaaah!”

“... Eh? … Uwah! Touya!”

Once again, I fell. This time, from the top of Yae’s foot all the way down. Yae had been messing around too much and just let go without thinking about how her foot was leaning too far forward. Instead of just being able to rest between her toes when she let go, I slipped between them and fell the entire distance I had climbed.

Pomf!

Thankfully, the blanket was enough of a cushion to break my fall safely. Yae’s airy white sheets caught me and slowed my fall with little fanfare. The fact that I hadn’t yet untied the rope also saved me as it slowed me down somewhat and allowed me to and on my back.

“Oof. Gah, that was clo- Oh,” I managed a brief breath of relief before noticing a darkening and enlarging shadow above me.

Slam!

“Mmmph!” I couldn’t breathe let alone open my mouth the moment Yae’s foot fell. The entire wall I had climbed tipped over like a collapsing building. I ended up slammed into Yae’s sheets and bed by the ball of her foot. Yae had been shaken by hearing and seeing me fall so she leaned back, causing her feet to land flat onto the bed. I was pressed down by the titanic weight of Yae’s foot as she panicked out of concern. 

“Touya? Are you alright? Touya? Where did you...” I heard Yae’s muffled voice call my name through the wall of meat pinning me down. I supposed I still wasn’t done with experiencing her feet even after reaching the goal. It suddenly grew hot beneath Yae’s foot from the pressure of Yae’s weight pushing down on me and the friction of her sole rubbing against me and the blanket. If I had been complaining about the lotion and smell before, I had done so too soon. My body seemed to slip and cling beneath Yae’s sole. While the blanket had some give to it thanks to all of the air between it and the bed, this was actually a bad thing as any space between it and Yae’s foot was room for me to be squeezed and pulled in different directions due to the pressure. My left arm and right leg were stuck but my left leg and right arm were being dragged and pulled.

This all happened in the few moments it took for Yae to realize where I was. When she took her foot off, I found I was actually still stuck to it thanks to the clinginess of the lotion. I wanted to tell Yae not to use beauty products after a bath, but I had no real energy to do so. I just tilted my head to the side so I was no longer face first into Yae’s foot.

“Uwah. Sorry, Touya,” I heard her apologize.

“Was that the fourth challenge?” I mumbled, trying to use humor to cope with what I had just had to deal with.

Yae was definitely feeling bad. “Let’s… go with that…”

I sighed and let Yae take me off her foot like a sticker. I didn’t feel flattened, but the sound of me being peeled off certainly made to think I had been. This was certainly going to be an eventful night.

After the accident that happened at Yae’s feet, she was a little more careful with me. After apologizing, she was surprised I was still willing to go through the rest of the punishment game. I didn’t mind continuing, but I made her promise to be more careful with trying to mess with me because it was her fault entirely that time.

Putting me on her left leg by her ankle, Yae allowed me to keep going to the destination. My body was still somewhat sore, but it would recover. Still, I and Yae knew I would be slowing my pace as a result.

Despite this, after the trial that was climbing Yae’s foot, just travelling up Yae’s leg wasn’t as challenging.

I was at grateful Sensei had let me test out the climbing set. Despite Yae keeping her feet flat on the bed now, I was constantly being saved by the equipment. The rope had slowed my falls while the gloves and boots had good grip. I abandoned the rope at Yae’s ankles which she was more than happy to take off my hands and made more use of the gloves and boots as I hiked to Yae’s knee. I had to try keeping my balance as I navigated up Yae’s bare left leg while because I would fall if I strayed a bit off to the side thanks to the curves of her legs. It was like walking up a mountain path, somewhat precarious but scenic. With the giant girl smiling down on me as my backdrop, I travelled up her knee.

“You kind of tickle, Touya,” Yae remarked. As I travelled the length of her leg, Yae could feel me. I was at least glad to know she could detect my steps. Since she was around 60 m from my perspective, everything about her had been magnified. Her smooth skin really didn’t feel like skin anymore. I couldn’t quite compare it to anything. It was some strange peach colored terrain I was walking on.

I didn’t appreciate the slope caused by the bending of Yae’s legs, though. She may have kept her feet flat on the bed, but she didn’t do so with both of her legs. She bent her left knee, creating a tall hill I had to carefully walk up to reach her knee. To think Yae could make it even steeper if she wanted to made me cautious. It was already steeper of a climb than the hill to Fujimoto’s and Yanase-Senpai’s neighborhood.

Well, at least it wasn’t vertical like Yae’s foot had been earlier. This was actually manageable if not a bit of a workout.

“So are you sure you’re okay, Touya?” I heard Yae ask. I looked out into the distance to see her concerned face. She was still feeling bad about dropping me and then smothering me with her foot.

Admittedly, I was already feeling tired and my body was sore. “It kind of hurts still, but I can manage,” I didn’t want to worry her, but I couldn’t lie. “I can probably still go through this though… as long as your challenges aren’t too crazy...”

“I’ll try to be reasonable,” Yae promised. “Speaking of which, we can start the next one when you get to the top of my knee.”

The top? What exactly was I going to have to do? I strained my legs scaling the steep slope of Yae’s bare leg until I cleared it the goal. Hills weren’t that fun to climb, even if it was my not-girlfriend’s body. I could see that Yae was doing something above me using the rope, but it pained me to admit that I couldn’t see what was going on at the top because of how high up Yae’s knee was relative to my position. I had to get further up before I saw that she tied the rope around her knee.

“There you are,” Yae smiled, acting like she hadn’t seen me in a while. The walk up wasn’t that long, but she was just playing around. I was more curious about what she had planned for the next challenge however. She said she’d be reasonable, but it didn’t look it to me.

“Um… Asano-san…,” I nervously spoke to Yae with a more formal tone. “I thought this earlier, but you’re really going all out for this last night.”

“Is it too much?” Yae frowned. “I wanted to see this too, so I’m sorry if it’s too crazy.”

Honestly, I doubted Yae could come up with something that wasn’t ‘too much’ to handle at 4.9 cm tall. The reason why I was dumbfounded was because the rope from the climbing set was tied around Yae’s left knee on one end and stretched over to her right thigh down below where she had pulled her shorts up slightly to wrap the rope around. I understood that it wasn’t much of a drop to Yae, but to me, the sight reminded me of the ski resort we went to when we went to when I was 14… only without a ski lift to take me up and down.

Yae’s next trial was less strenuous since it was at moving down instead of climbing up, but she was seriously enjoying herself coming up with ways to challenge me. “Can you use that rope to get over to my right leg, Touya?”

I looked down from the edge of Yae’s knee. It wasn’t too tall of a fall, probably the height of a five story building from my perspective. My definition of what was tall and what wasn’t was definitely changing. I was honestly curious about what the view would be like between both of Yae’s legs but I didn’t want to fall to find out.

“I can squeeze my legs a little closer if you need me to, Touya,” Yae told me. I got on all fours and grabbed onto her leg as tightly as I could just as the ground beneath me, her legs, shifted so she could bring her legs together. I watched as the gap between her legs shrink along. My gaze lingered for a moment when I saw Yae’s thighs pressing against each other.

“Thanks for the help Yae,” I appreciated her making it easier for the exhausted me. “And now to add to that, I have just the equipment to make this even easier.”

“Huh?”

The easy climbing device I had chosen not to use to climb her foot was still in my possession. If I hooked myself to the rope and used it, it would be a motor that would move me along the rope just like the ski lift I had been visualizing. I could see Yae stare curiously as I meticulously hooked myself to the rope with it.

“What’s that, Touya?” Yae asked.

“It’s a motorized ascender,” I explained to Yae. It was far more advanced than an ordinary one I knew of since it seemed clean, compact, and simple enough for even a kid like me to use. It even attached to the rope Yae already tied without any hassle. “I don’t think they’re supposed to be used for going down or to the side like this, but this should make things simple… Okay… That should do it.”

I succeeding in getting myself and the motorized ascender onto the rope. It wouldn’t be that long of a trip to Yae’s right thigh now. I just had to be careful not to fall off from Yae’s knee before I was ready. I was going to be ziplining down my childhood friend. It sounded like fun.

“Well, this beats making you slowly climb on over. I was worried this would be too tough for you, but I guess I was wrong,” Yae remarked.

“It’s better than giving me too many challenges and tiring me out,” I replied. I readied myself to jump off Yae’s knee and then pushed the button to start being pulled. “Here we go- Waaaah!”

“Hm? Ah-!” I heard Yae remark as I sped through the air.

In terms of power, the tiny ascender had far more horsepower than I expected. It was probably something designed only for Reduction use, so it was not an ordinary model. The moment I activated it, I was pulled - no, thrusted - off my feet. This wasn’t a slow ski lift nor was it a human operated pulley. This was a rocket.

“Waaaaaaah!” I continued to wail. Yae could hear both my loud shouts through the ear piece (which she had to take off) and my actual high pitched scream as I sped from her knee to her thigh.

Pomf!

“Oof...”

In just under three seconds, I hit my target. I face planted into Yae’s thigh at breakneck speeds. I would have thanked Yae for the soft landing things to her squishy thighs, but I knew she would take that as an insult. I struggled to turn off the bucking bronco of a machine before it sent me along the rest of the rope around the rest of Yae’s leg.

In the end, I was upside down on Yae’s right leg, my body still tied to the rope that was wrapped around her, and with my tongue tasting a mouthful of Yae’s thigh meat. Perhaps this was why gondola lifts were slow and contained: so I wouldn’t slam into things. Yae didn’t seem to notice, but I didn’t make it a point of discussion either. I had bigger concerns.

“Got to… get up…,” I mumbled as I separated myself from the rope to have a chance to be upright again.

That was a poorly thought out plan.

“Whoa!” Gravity took me the moment I unhooked myself. I fell again… right into the space between both of Yae’s thighs. My head and torso slipped right between both of her legs while the rest of my body was left free to flail about while I was smothered on by Yae’s warm and gargantuan thighs. It ended up being a scene out of The Inugamis with how I looked. “Mmmphf! Mmpph!”

“T-Touya…,” I heard Yae’s disbelief at the situation. I understood why she sounded troubled. She had seen me buzz through the air from her knee to her thigh, slam into it, and fall down head first in between her thighs. She could see me kicking my legs struggling while my arms tried to push her legs apart to get free but to no avail. I must have looked helpless, unable to do anything against her thin legs (which she refused to believe had a fair amount of meat to them). I probably also seemed pathetic for having fallen off her body once again.

To help me, Yae spread her legs out slightly. She freed me of the pressure she inadvertently caused and let me slide off her thigh all the way down to the bed. I fell down… again...

“Ouch… That was r-roug… Whoa...” I complained while getting up but drifted off the moment I realized where I was.

I got the view I had been curious about. Yae’s legs were imposing and insurmountable skin colored fortress walls. I was flanked  on both sides by them. The shadow of Yae’s left leg darkened over half of the little space Yae left between her legs. There was no way to climb them and, behind me,  I couldn’t see all the way back due to the wrinkles in the blanket caused by Yae moving about. There was no escape.

In front of me was something even more imposing - Yae’s shorts clad crotch. The striped hoodie and short shorts she chose as her pajamas for the night were something I’d normally consider cute and alluring because the shorts were typically hard to notice due to the length of the hoodie. This time, however, it was impossible to NOT notice her shorts. Much like her legs, Yae’s shorts were another fortress wall sized structure, or possibly a gate considering what was behind them. Since Yae had pulled up her already short shorts slightly to wrap my rope around her thigh, I could see a glimpse of her light pink underwear behind her shorts.  Well, rather than glimpse it was fairly clear in my eyes. It was like seeing the supports inside an exposed wall - obvious and noticeable to a fault.

“Wah!”

My jaw which had dropped finally came back up the moment Yae broke me out of my stupor by just shifting her legs slightly. What amounted to a few centimeters for Yae was several meters for me. I thought she was going to squish me between her gargantuan legs.

Yae frowned upon hearing my wailing. I couldn’t fight back when she reached down to pluck me off her bed between her fingers. I ended up being taken past all of the other obstacles that was Yae’s body and brought up to her disappointed face.

“I don’t think we should keep doing this if you keep falling like that, Touya,” she told me. “It’s bad for my heart hearing you scream like that.”

“How do you think I feel?” I groaned.

“Well, it’s your fault this time, using that crazy powerful thing,” Yae blamed me. “How about we just stop the challenges and just let you take it easy the rest of the way?”

That sounded good to me. “So you’re still making me climb you, huh?” I chuckled.

“Wouldn’t you hate if I just stopped you right here?” Yae smiled knowingly. “I’ll just go easy on you since you’re so small, Touya.”

“Well, that at least saves me the trouble of dealing with any more of this punishment game’s challenges,” I was bold enough to provoke Yae while dangling in front of her face. “I wouldn’t mind just enjoying the fun stuff.”

After agreeing with Yae, she placed me back where I was supposed to be - on her right thigh. She straightened out her shorts so that they weren’t rolling up her leg any more and leaned back onto the bed.

“Okay, Touya. Let’s just give you a breather then. Just remember. You go over my shorts, not under, okay? THAT place is off limits,” Yae reminded me. I nodded and approached the blue cotton shorts. If I was going to have to go over, I was going to have to be careful as I grabbed the fabric. The wrinkles made it easier to keep my balance, but I had to navigate my way up Yae’s thigh and then pull myself up onto her hoodie. My weight didn’t push down on her clothes at all, so every wrinkle of her outfit was still going to be a trial.

At the very least, the tough part was over. Now it was just time to enjoy the last stretch.

(36) Day 4 Challenge-less Chat (4.9 cm > 4.8 cm)

A lack of Yae’s ‘brilliant ideas’ was just what the doctor ordered to allow my exhausted body to relax. I enjoyed the idea of a brisk walk up Yae’s body while she rested on her bed. Yae had interesting taste in clothes for the night. Her fuzzy hoodie was somewhat of a challenge to climb because of the wrinkles in her clothes as well as how prickly the material felt on my scale. Actually, it tickled somewhat. I felt as though I was pushing through a thick brush in a jungle as I navigated my way up Yae’s pajamas.

Since there wasn’t much for her to force me to do now that she had decided to give me a rest, as I neared her stomach, Yae started to talk to me.

“You know, Touya. This is our last night together like this. Tomorrow you’ll be going back home at normal size,” she said, sounding disappointed. She had been loving having me stay over among other things.

“Well, I’m looking forward to being normal again. This is nice and all, but I can’t get used to being this small.”

“You keep changing your height and getting smaller, so I don’t think you were ever able to get used to it,” Yae noted. I agreed. “Did you have fun at least? It was weird at first, but I think it was a good week being with you like this.”

I steadied myself as I walked because Yae’s talking actually changed her breathing, and her breathing was causing her stomach and chest to rise and fall. It was an impressive sight - seeing the hills that were Yae’s breasts move in rhythm to her breathing. It was like an earthquake, only gentler and more attractive in my opinion. “It’s been interesting, so I can’t complain in the end. I could have done without all the teasing though… and the crushing...”

“I’m very sorry,” Yae frowned. “Um… So how did it feel being around me?”

“I miss the cute girl who’s shorter than me,” I stated firmly. Yae sounded like she had worked up the courage to ask that question. I had an idea about what she wanted me to say but I couldn’t lie.

“That’s not what I meant… I mean, I miss the normal you, too, but...” Yae didn’t like my answer. At that time, I reached her breasts. I moved up the incline carefully, gripping her hoodie to keep my footing. The fabric was thick enough that Yae couldn’t feel me, but she did react when she saw. “T-Touya… Be gentle...”

“You should be gentle yourself. Don’t breathe so hard. I’m going to fall off,” I told her. Not only was the rhythmic movement of her chest causing me to lose balance but just her talking was sending a decent enough gust of wind to keep me on my toes. Despite her not making a challenge, I found trying to surmount her bosom was difficult enough on my 4.8 cm body.

“I’m not even doing anything,” Yae told me. She continued to demand an answer. “But really, Touya. How has it been being around me like this? Did you like it?”

If she really wanted my answer, I supposed I didn’t have a choice. I grabbed onto Yae’s clothes and pulled myself up like I was rock climbing. “Yae, you’re kind of an idiot, you know that?”

“Eh? What?”

“Uwah!” I held on tight as Yae jerked in surprise at my remark. Her entire body shook. If I didn’t cling to her hoodie, I would’ve tumbled back down the incline of her breasts. “Phew. That was close… Erk!”

I froze up when I saw Yae’s hand come down from above. I found myself face first into the ground of Yae’s hoodie and left breast for a moment. Softness and warmth surrounded me, but also the heavy weight of Yae’s hand. I was reminded of the Mitigation Spray test earlier. If I hadn’t breathed it in, Yae’s scent would definitely be overwhelming me. The pleasant aroma was still there accompanied with the smell of soap, but it wasn’t enough that my reasoning was impaired or my nose was overloaded. Thankfully, Yae eased soon after, giving me room to breathe again, but she wasn’t letting me go on until I answered properly. 

“Touya, what do you mean by that?”

“Can I... get some room to climb first?” I asked, unable to push Yae’s hand away or climb her breast easily with it in the way.

“Fine...” Yae did what I asked for but I could tell by her tone of voice that she was getting impatient. Yae waited to continue the conversation as I resumed my journey up-breast. After another minute or two of climbing, I reached the summit and turned around to see the distance I had travelled. It was just Yae’s leg and stomach, and the incline up Yae’s breast wasn’t as intense as the one we had to deal with along the way to school but it felt like a greater accomplishment than even the mountain trip I took in middle school. Not as pride boosting as succeeding getting up her foot though.

“The reason why I said you’re an idiot is because I’m currently climbing your body and literally on top of your chest. What kind of guy would I be if I said I didn’t enjoy this?” I finally explained to Yae. I laughed when I saw her giant face blush. “It should be obvious I’ve been having a great time with you. Why else do you think I opted to be exempt from the Reduction dormitory?”

“I-Is that so?” Yae was stunned by my words as well as by my jumping around on top of her left breast. Yae’s hoodie was fuzzy and thick in my perspective so I couldn’t feel what was underneath, but she apparently could feel my body somewhat as I moved about.

“It has been a bit scary though,” I admitted. “I've been having a hard time not seeing you as this giant kaiju or part of the scenery. Heck, you’re more like a hill than my neighbor now.”

“I guess I am that big to you. Right now, I can’t even imagine how different it must be. Sorry, Touya.”

“There’s nothing to apologize about. There’s some appeal in this more assertive you. That’s one thing I’ll miss when I get back to normal.”

Yae giggled. Her chest shook strongly enough to cause me to lose my footing for a moment. I stumbled down from the top but was thankfully caught by a wrinkle in her striped hoodie.

“Maybe I can try a little harder then,” Yae couldn’t stop herself from smiling widely. She restrained herself from moving her hands to cover her face because she didn’t want to knock me off by suddenly moving. “It’s just that it felt a bit easier to do when you’re so small. It’s hard to do normally.”

“You do find it hard to talk to guys who aren’t me… Wait, so I do just register less as a guy when I’m like this?” I made my realization as I continued down Yae’s chest. I saw the bag resting by the pillow on Yae’s right, so I had to head over to her right shoulder before I could find a way down.

“Well… you are more like a bug I can pinch between my fingers right now,” Yae was an honest girl as always. “You rolled down my chest when I laughed, y’know? Very pathetic, wouldn’t you think?”

“So that’s how I look in your eyes. That makes me want to get back to normal sooner,” I frowned.

“D-Don’t be sad, Touya,” Yae tried to cheer me up, but now that I had gotten to her shoulder, she couldn’t see me clearly anymore, so she had to stay still. I wondered if she could feel me as I got to the edge.

“Oh, I’m not sad,” I confidently answered her after seeing how high of a drop it was from her shoulder to the bed. I’d fallen enough to believe I could survive the impact, but I still didn’t want to do so. “I’ve gotten you riled up even while I’m like this. To get a giant woman to blush, that has to say something about my appeal, doesn’t it?”

“Fufu~n...” My words made Yae laugh. I could still feel her body shake. I was grateful to having moved away from the edge of her shoulder to stop falling off. “Touya, sometimes I wonder where your confidence comes from.”

I didn’t know myself. How was I able to handle my giant neighbor so well while the size of a bug? It was probably just the trust I had in Yae to take care of me. She had been cautious and courteous, asking for my consent the entire time. If it were anyone else, I doubted they’d do that while I was Reduced. That was why this whole punishment game had been a special experience too. Yae was cutting loose.

In any case, now I had to get down from Yae. If I didn’t have the rope any more and I didn’t want to fall, what could I do? “Um… Yae, any ideas how to get down? I’m kind of stuck and don’t want to fall for the umpteenth time.”

“Um… how about my hair or my hood?” She suggested, surprised that even this was an obstacle to me.  “If you’re where I think you are, that might be work.”

Using her hair or hood to climb down? That was an idea. To think Yae’d be both an obstacle and the solution to getting unstranded from atop her body. If I could pick, I wanted to use her hair instead of her hood. After all, why wouldn’t I choose Yae’s body as a method for transportation? The only odd thing I had to note was how odd it felt seeing the underside of Yae’s head as I moved from her shoulder to her neck. 

Yae’s hair curled around to her neck so I didn’t have to go very far. I was still on Yae’s hoodie, which was a good thing for me because I felt it would be dangerous if I tickled her by walking on her neck. Falling into her hood and clothes was appealing but dangerous.

I found that my light body saved me. Yae’s hair stayed in place even though I grabbed onto it. Though I couldn’t tie myself to it like the climbing set’s rope, I could still grab a bundle of her hair and slowly rappel down.

“... I can sort of feel you, Touya,” Yae mumbled. “Are you climbing down?”

“Yeah,” I told her while I was halfway down. The smell of Yae’s shampoo was flowery, much like every other bath and beauty product she preferred to use. The smell was peasant and relaxing, not too powerful or overbearing. I tried being careful not to get tangled up in her hair. If I ended up wrapped around, I probably wouldn’t hear the end of it with Yae. If I ended up in trouble when Yae wasn’t giving me a challenge, I really deserved being told off or laughed at by her.

After getting down safely, I looked back up where I had been. Really, I was tiny. I couldn’t see past Yae’s arm or head to the rest of the room nor could I see the top of her where I had just been. I didn’t stay discouraged at that thought as I knew the Reduction still wasn’t over. I headed my way around Yae’s pillow towards the paper bag with the Miniature Hotel Room in it.

“Finished,” I declared, putting my hand on the paper bag that towered over me like a skyscraper. I made it to my destination safely after that long journey and talked with Yae. 

“Good job,” Yae praised me like she would a pet. “I had fun watching. How about you?”

“I need another bath,” I told her. “Ignoring getting stepped on earlier, all this worked up a serious sweat.”

“There is a bath in the mini hotel room, but before that, let me use the cleaning balm to help you out.” Yae’s hand came to pluck me off the bed. I was held between her fingers, but she still didn’t move me immediately because she took out the cleaning balm. I saw her uncap it and suddenly, the large pole of a chapstick sized cleanser hit me. Yae started to rub it over my torso, legs, and back. I tried to push it away because she was pressing hard, but I should have known it would be useless to fight back. “You sure did work hard, Touya. Sorry for making you go out of your way for this.”

“Weren’t you the one who thought this up in the first place?” I raised an eyebrow while allowing her to wipe me down. I could feel the grime being removed but it wasn’t as clean as I would’ve preferred without an actual bath. It was more on the level of hand sanitizer.

Yae put the cleaning balm away and stood up. I was held in her hand as she brought the Portable Hotel Room out again and back on her desk. She didn’t put me back on the desk yet though. After she had finished, she held me in front of her face. 

“Okay, Touya, that should be enough for tonight. You spent a while getting there, y’know?” Yae’s breath was warm and covered me in a moist mist. I was more than a little nervous being in front of her mouth. Her lips were big enough, but when she opened her mouth, I realized I could fit right inside.

I swallowed my saliva and spoke to her. “I don’t really cover that much distance with a body like this after all.”

“That was sort of a punishment game, but I think you deserve a reward before we go to bed then,” Yae batted her eyelashes and smiled.

“A reward?” The way Yae put it turned my face red. I was right that Yae was being incredibly forward, but could this have been her goal all along? I was directly in front of her lips so there was only one thing I could consider Yae would do for a reward.

“Uwah!”

Chu!

A kiss from a 60 m tall girl is far more extreme than I would have ever thought. Half of my body was the target of my 160 cm neighbor’s pink lips. Though she was gentle, there was an incredible amount of force pushing them against my body such that Yae had to hold me tight between her fingers to keep me still. My clothes became wet from the drops of saliva Yae’s lower lip as it pushed into me while the upper lip kept me pinned to Yae’s fingers. Compared to the small kiss I had given her the day before, this was on another level.

If only Yae had done that to my face instead of turning me over to kiss me on my back.

Putting my stunned body back down on the table next to the Reduced bedroom, Yae touched her own lips and retreated back to the bed. I stayed motionless trying to regain my senses. Yae had kissed me on her own terms. I was the one who was getting flustered this time.

“This is revenge for yesterday night Touya… And no, not lip to lip until we actually date, okay?”

“Y-Yesh...” I slurred.

That Yae… Since I’d be back to normal tomorrow, I’d be going back to my house. This was our last night together for Reduction Week, and she had been daring enough to give me a full force kiss like that as one of the last memories I would have of the Reduction program with her.

With a beet red face, I stumbled back into the closed roof room of the Portable Hotel Room. Yae turned off the lights after she watched my dazed figure enter the tiny building. I could hear something that sounded like a muffled squeal, but my mind was too preoccupied by the sensation that had gone through my entire body.

My back was tingling. I was no longer in the mood to wash off any part of my body, particularly that part. That was a kiss of a lifetime.

This was going to affect my expectations for the future.

The final day meant the final round of shrinking. The last day of Reduction Week was, on paper, not supposed to be that large of a reduction. It being the end, the pace had slowed a lot since the start of the week. I should have already been used to waking up a different size than I went to sleep, but, honestly, after Yae’s surprising kiss, I had been distracted and fell asleep without even realizing it.

Yae woke up before me, but I woke up soon after. Well, honestly, it was difficult not to when every once in a while Yae would roll in her sleep, shaking the bed and the desk because it was next to it. No matter what soundproofing or cushioning the company that made the Portable Hotel Room used, it couldn’t win against a high school girl that was now around 250 m tall.

The world was four times bigger than the night before. I must have lost nearly 4 cm. While that didn’t seem like a large number compared to the 30 cm I had lost all in one night earlier this week, proportionally, it was a more drastic change. My entire world had quadrupled in height. Everything gained several dozen more meters than it had before. The room I was in was only around 2 cm high now, dwarfed by Yae’s pencil case.

She noticed my new size and greeted me, but I didn’t reply. I couldn’t. I had no time to think as I had to endure cataclysmic earthquake after cataclysmic earthquake as Yae moved about. I completely forgot about the microphone while I was thrown around the room as the tiny building bounced about due to the shaking of the desk. That was to be expected. There was no way the miniscule building could fully protect me after also shrinking down.

Thinking I was still asleep, Yae simply left me to my own devices while she got ready, but she did hope I would be ready when she was finished. Yae gathered her clothes from the dresser and left the room to take a morning shower. It took me some time to recover before I could actually get dressed as well. I was hesitant to leave the safety of the room until Yae got back. 

I had already lost most of my energy when Yae had me come out so she could properly measure me.

“1.20 cm exactly, Touya,” Yae stepped back with her ruler with one hand and her phone in the other. She didn’t need a ruler anymore now that I was wearing the Tracer Belt, but she still wanted to confirm. “You don’t look that much smaller than yesterday, but that’s still pretty small. I hope this is the limit.”

I hoped so too, but I could tell that it wasn’t as my body still felt like it was slowly getting smaller. I didn’t like how Yae said I didn’t look that much smaller, but it did make sense. A few centimeters to her didn’t mean much, but it now meant the world to me. Everything around me still seemed to be expanding.

This was going to take some getting used to. I knew I was looking up to and talking to Yae, but everything about her felt big and imposing. I had thought I had gotten used to looking up, but there was a serious difference between kaiju sized and Tokyo Tower sized. Yae had transcended ‘monstrously’ huge and became ‘ludicrously’ huge. If she had been this big when I was traversing her last night, I probably wouldn’t have finished until it was late.

When she had bent down to look at me and check my height with the ruler, I realized I was about the same height as her eye. Her fingertips completely covered my body when she used them to bring me closer to the ruler as well. I also was still mesmerized by her lips, but this time, their intimidation factor snapped me out of my daze. Last night, Yae could cover over half my body with them, but now I would be completely covered by just her lower lip. It was terrifying but also somehow heart-pounding to think about getting another kiss at this size when I could clearly fit inside Yae’s mouth. I was the size of a crumb to her now after all.

When Yae stood up at her full height, I ended up breathless from the sight. I had to turn my head left and right just to scan the entirety of her waste. Her navy blue skirt alone was an expansive wall before me. It hurt my neck to crane my neck back just to try looking up at her face, and even then, that was impossible unless she took a few steps back. Otherwise, the highest up I could see was the underside of Yae’s chest.

Then came her presence. Though shadows physically had no weight, I could physically feel the difference in temperature and see the difference in lightning when Yae walked in front of me. The warm morning light coming in from the window was blocked by her and had to bend around her as best as it could, but it still couldn’t reach me. It really put things into perspective how powerful Yae was to me when, just by standing, she was able to affect everything around me.

“Touya, is something wrong?” Yae stepped closer and noticed I was just standing there staring. Immediately, my ears were assaulted by a thunderous roar while my body was pelted by a warm wind that choked me with the smell of toothpaste. I didn’t think I’d be intimidated by just her voice alone. It was still Yae’s normal voice, but the intensity of it had spiked. It wasn’t just my ears but my entire body that seemed to pound from the heavy power of Yae’s words and breath. 

“I’m really thankful for that sensory spray now,” I used the microphone to tell Yae. I was sure everything I was experiencing would be more difficult to handle otherwise. “Yae, can you speak a little softer?”

Upon hearing my words through the earpiece, Yae was surprised. She tried to lower her voice but she was still too close to me. “Eh? Is it that bad? I thought we used the spray.”

“I don’t think it’d be that effective when you’re this ridiculously enormous,” I told her. “It doesn’t hurt, but it’s crazy loud. The spray’s made it so that it doesn’t hurt my ears now, but my whole body’s shaking whenever you talk. Protecting my ears doesn’t seem to have made much of a difference actually.”

“I can try, but I don’t think I can really do too much about that, Touya,” Yae frowned. She tried lowering her voice but it was still just as thunderous to me. Yae made a couple more attempts to quiet down, but outside of whispering, it was impossible. “Sorry, Touya. I think you’ll just have to deal with it.”

We were getting to the limit of being able to have Yae accomodate me unfortunately. The best we could do was make sure Yae was not directly facing me when she talked so her breath wouldn’t hit me.

Yae changed the subject when she started to inspect the Miniature Hotel Room that had shrunken with me overnight. I braced myself as her hand reached down from the sky and picked up the building between her fingers. The moment she did, I noticed the wall of the building became dented for a moment before springing back out. A chill ran up my spine. Despite the walls being reinforced with whatever material was used by the company that made them, it meant nothing to Yae. She could easily crush it into the ball if she wanted to. The only thing the Miniature Hotel Room had going for it was that it seemed to reform. I didn’t want to think about what would happen to anything inside though.

In any case, Yae lifted it with ease, taking it high up out of my reach and sight so she could place it in her hand.

“Wow, even the building shrank. I mean, it wasn’t that big before, but now I’m afraid I’ll break it,” Yae held it with room to spare in her hand. She was unaware she had already dented it. It had been the second largest item she had brought home last night, but it now fit in her hand with ease. “Touya, did you take everything of yours out?”

“Yes,” I confirmed that all of my belongings were with me. I did keep the microphone though so I could more easily talk to Yae. I kept my gaze on the building though. I believed that Yae probably could break the room. It seemed brittle compared to the massive trees that were her fingers.

“Then I’ll put this away,” Yae returned the Reduction equipment to its paper bag. My entire place of residence was gone just like that. Whatever I might have forgotten was now far out of my reach.

The physical differences between me and Yae continued to be noted when Yae brought out the Transport Ball she had taken me home before. Yae lowered her hand with the necklace down to the table. The side of her hand was as thick as I was tall, and her palm was the size of a concert stage.

“Okay, Touya. I don’t think it’s safe if I carry you around just in my hand, so I think we’ll have to keep using this,” Yae told me. “Climb on.”

Climb she said. She was at least aware of what I had to do. I stretched to pull myself up onto Yae’s palm. Her skin was thick but springy. My miniscule weight wasn’t enough to press it down, but while I walked the fair distance to get to the center of her palm, I felt as though the ground was pushing me up. I could liken it to an inflatable bed, but I felt it was already being rude enough walking on Yae’s hand with my shoes. Yae didn’t seem to mind or consider it at least.

Once I got to the transport container, I noticed how much of a difference there was in the size of the orb itself and the rest of the necklace. The chain was still normal, but the ball itself had also reduced along with me. It seemed less like jewelry and more like a single bead on the chain now.

And I was going inside that bead.

“Ok. Here we go, Touya. I’ll keep my promise from yesterday,” Yae said after I went in. My entire world went dark while Yae closed her palm. I grit my teeth and braced myself for the rough motions as my giant neighbor put on the necklace holding me.

“Uwoah!”

I let out a cry when Yae got the necklace around her neck and let the orb fall. For a second, there was light. The next, there wasn’t. I could see something skin colored in front of me when I opened my eyes, but I had been knocked down by the sudden drop. I had to look around to get my bearings.

The first thing I saw was a dark chasm. The orb was lying atop the long and deep gap on a skin colored plain. Above me was white: the color of Yae’s uniform was the sky. I was atop Yae’s breast. To think I’d gotten small enough that I could stand on her with room to spare. While I had crawled on her yesterday, this scale was ridiculous. Focusing my gaze further out to the edge of the skin colored plain, I saw intricate designs in blue. For a moment, it was unknown what that was, but the elegant embroidery helped me understand. It didn’t take very long after that to put two and two together.

“Well, that’s a fancy design for a bra. You really went all out, Yae,” I teased into the speaker. “Waah!”

My response was accompanied by the intense shaking of the world around me. I was thrown off balance and knocked around more than once. The orb nearly fell into the chasm that Yae’s cleavage. I could see Yae’s breasts press together as Yae was flustered.

“T-Touya, you’re way too quick to notice…,” Yae’s voice rippled through my body as it came from not only the speakers but also all around me.

“As if I wouldn’t be able to,” I forced a laugh taking in the fact that all around me was Yae’s body. Her school uniform covered her chest fully so it was dark outside of the remnants of light leaking through the fabric. From where I sat inside the transport orb, it seemed like everything was bathed in the color of twilight due to how the light bounced off Yae's skin. My surroundings looked so alien, if I didn’t experience Yae wearing my container, I wouldn’t have realized this was her body. “Ahaha… This is surreal…”

“It’s still embarrassing, but we both talked about this yesterday,” I covered my ears just in time after feeling the rumbling around me. “And since you didn’t like being tossed around so much, this should be better, right?”

“I don’t know about that. I think there’ll be plenty of bouncing around. And you could’ve put me over your undershirt, but I can see you’re being bold again,” I smirked. Yae’s embarrassment and movements caused my container to bounce from her right breast to her left.

“I know you’re enjoying this, Touya. I thought long and hard about this and I’m fine with it. I prepared this time. I want to hear your thoughts later too.”

“My thoughts…? W-Waah!” I mumbled before Yae started to move. My entire body felt the rumbling as the transport container and Yae’s body shifted around. She was leaving her room. 

I struggled to reach the button on the panel of the transport orb to speak to Yae with little success. I was going to have to do without for a while. My body was tossed around along with the orb as her breasts bounced with each step she took. I would have to endure this the best as I could until Yae entirely stopped or my body could adjust to the constant motion.

“Well, this is going to be an interesting start to the day.”

(38) Day 5 Bouncing Duality (1.20 cm > 1.17 cm)

Despite being a safer option than allowing me to swing around freely outside her clothes, in my current state of 1.17 cm, even this was a rougher ride than the trip home the day before. With her first step, the necklace bounced a few centimeters up until it hit Yae’s white undershirt and then slammed back down onto the top of her chest. This was higher than any roller coaster to me and a much faster drop as well. I didn’t get any leeway once Yae took her next step either as it repeated again, sending me from Yae’s left breast to her right. Yae was lucky I wasn’t using the microphone to speak to her, or she wouldn’t hear my repeated wails.

Not being given any time to think, all I could do was get thrown about inside the necklace. It was by luck that the Transport Orb had yet to fall into the Yae’s cleavage while she left her room, but gravity soon gained the advantage when she stopped. I found my world darkening as I sunk down the space between her breasts.

“W-Whoa…,” was all I could manage to utter while looking at the flesh colored surroundings around me. I had seen breasts pressed against glass before from magazines and online content that I wasn’t ‘intentionally’ looking for, but this was ridiculous. The crystalline orb I was in was covered on all sides by Yae’s breasts. I could see and feel Yae’s boobs push in from all directions of the tiny bead I was in.

This was an experience. I had no other words to think of other than that. I couldn’t see outside. No, the outside was just Yae. Above me, below me, behind me, and in front of me was Yae’s breast. I could hear Yae speaking through the constant vibrations of the world around me. While stuck in her cleavage, my ears only picked up muffled words through the wall of breast surrounding me. The vibrations were more impactful as well.

I could decipher the words somewhat at least. I could hear were “Yuri” and “Okaa-san” so I was sure Yae was talking to her family. All that bouncing around and we hadn’t even left the house; I knew I was in for the ride of a lifetime.

At the very least, things had calmed down enough for me to be able to use the speaker. “Hey, Yae, is everything alright?”

I could feel Yae’s motions as everything around me shook. Before her reply however, I found my body yanked upwards. My eyes were blinded by the sudden burst of light and my stomach turned from the sudden change in jerking motion as Yae pulled the necklace out of her cleavage and out into the open.

“Hm…? Is that what I think it is?”

“Yup. It’s Touya.”

“Eh? No way. Onii-chan’s in there?”

I could hear much more clearly after being pulled out from between Yae’s breasts. When my vision adjusted to the light again, I admitted to making a dull whimper, however. The imposing 300 m height I was being held at was both sobering and terrifying. I still believed I had no fear of heights, but despite knowing I was affixed to Yae, my body trembled at the sight of the distant floor beneath.

My mind was taken off of the floor, however, when I realized, in the distance, Yuri and Ayame were looking at me. Yae was holding the necklace by the chain, letting the orb I was in dangle while the two of them could get a look at how small the container I was in was.

“Touya-kun’s gotten quite small. Is the school planning on letting you experience something like the live-in offices at my workplace? Or maybe the intern duties?” Ayame-san wasn’t speaking to me directly but looking at me. I braced myself for when she approached Yae and extended her hand. Yae let go so that Ayame-san could inspect the orb. I was subject to being stared at by an eyeball as big as I was. Ayame-san was actually close enough that her eyelashes brushed against the bead like… well… brushes. “Hm… So he’s still getting smaller.”

“Live-in offices?” Yae asked the question I would have thought to ask if I wasn’t intimidated by Ayame-san’s scrutinizing gaze. Unfortunately, she wouldn’t get an answer as Yuri hopped over and took my from Ayame-san’s hands. I was pulled into darkness again as the primary schooler’s hand covered my container. “Grk!”

“Let me see, let me see!” Yuri rushed and snatched me from Ayame-san. Unfortunately for Yae, that meant pulling her down because she was wearing me as a necklace.

“Hey, Yuri! That hurt!” Yae complained.

Yuri wasn’t paying attention to her though. I was the center of attention. When she opened her palm, I found myself in front of Yuri’s building sized face. More specifically, her mouth.

“Wow. It really is Touya-oniichan!” I was blasted by Yuri’s loud voice at close range. She spat when she talked, coating the crystalline container with a layer of saliva. It was just the smallest drop, but considering I was nearly a centimeter tall, it was like somebody threw a water balloon at a window. “Can you hear me, Onii-chan?”

I could hear, but Yae would be the only one who would hear my reply since she had the earpiece. Yuri had a cat-like smile on her face. I never thought a primary schooler’s smiling face could be scary, but my instincts told me to be afraid. Rather than being treated like a neighbor or a brother, she was certainly looking at me like a toy.

“Nishishishi~!” Yuri could easily see my expression through the transparent sphere. “Touya Onii-chan, do you want to play with me some more? You look like you’d be really fun right now!”

She wanted to see what it’d be like toying with me now that I was this small. I did not want to experience a cat and mouse chase or anything of the sort when this was an even vaster size difference than before.

Yae was thankfully my guardian, and Ayame-san was also opposed.

“No way, Yuri. Especially not after you stuck Touya in your sock last night,” Yae pulled me back out of Yuri’s grasp and held me close.

“Dear, the two of them have to go to school. You can’t play around in the morning,” Ayame-san added. “And Touya-kun will be going back to normal today, so he’ll be leaving.”

“Eh? Onii-chan’s leaving already?”

“That’s right, so say good-bye for now.”

“Awww, no fair! I wanted to play with Onii-chan more!”

I was safe since Ayame-san was holding her daughter back and Yae was taking several steps back to leave the kitchen and head towards the door. She looked down at the orb I was kept in.

“Sorry about that, Touya,” she sighed. “I think we’ll need to give Yuri a reminder of your normal size after today.”

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” I agreed. It was bad enough to admit that I was beginning to forget what normal size was like. The days when I could look down at my 160 cm neighbor seemed distant. My neck was starting to get used to the strain of constantly looking up.

“You might as well stop by after school when you’re back to normal anyways,” Ayame-san walked out to the entryway.

“Okaa-san?”

Ayame-san smiled as she looked at both me and Yae. I could tell from her gaze that she was more focused on me. “Touya-kun, if I’m guessing right, you’re in for a doozy of a day. I’m familiar with the jobs that are performed at your size. If you need someone to talk to when it’s all over, I’m qualified to manage Reduced workers at the office, so you can come see me.”

Was it really going to be that rough of a day? This was the final day, but Ayame-san seemed worried after seeing how small I’d gotten. This was my last centimeter of height, so how much smaller could I get?

“That aside, you and Yae seem to be having a lot of fun. Keeping you here, huh? I wonder where my sweet daughter got such an idea…,” Ayame-san pushed out her own chest to emphasize where Yae had placed me earlier. “Whose idea was it?”

She riled Yae up successfully. Yae’s inability to lie sold her out. “I-I... It was mine...” 

“As I thought,” I could clearly hear Ayame-san’s amusement in poking fun at her daughter. “Touya-kun, if your worldview changes from today on, I wouldn’t be surprised. Just remember that Reduction isn’t something used for your own amusement. You’ll be no good if you get too addicted to it. Don’t spoil him too much, Yae.”

I gulped, remembering the kiss Yae had given me the night before. If that was what Ayame-san meant by a change in my worldview, she was right. It was going to be difficult thinking about a normal kiss after something like that. Honestly, it was getting hard to not see Yae’s breasts as titanic meteors now too. What would I call them when I got back to my normal height? My definition of big was becoming warped.

After Ayame-san talked to Yae for a bit longer, she saw us off. Yae decided to wait until we got out the door before slipping me back in under her clothes. I was given a bit of an opportunity to talk to Yae because I had yet to fall into her cleavage, though our conversation was a little difficult to hold because I was bouncing about from each of Yae’s steps.

“So if you stop listening to me, it’s because you fell in? It’s that hard to hear me even though you’re right on me? That’s… surreal...” Yae told me after I warned her about how tight it was in her cleavage.

“W-whoa, hey. Don’t just hold them because I mentioned them,” I was suddenly lifted up along with Yae’s boobs.

My panic made Yae giggle. “I barely touched them. I guess I really am that big to you now.”

“It still hasn’t sunk in to you yet? It sure has to me.”

“Sorry… it’s the last day, I know, but it all still feels like a dream…,” she apologized. “I can’t imagine what it’d be like at your height. If falling between my boobs can block out my voice… you are really different at this size, Touya.”

If by different, she meant, vulnerable and weak, Yae would be correct. I wanted to continue to listen to her but the necklace slipped into her cleavage at that moment. Once again, I got to experience Yae’s breasts pushing in against the shrinking container from all sides. It hardly made an impression in Yae’s body. Both breasts just seemed to engulf the sphere completely. I was swallowed up in the chasm between her breasts.

I was about to tell Yae before I noticed something: sweat. The human body still sweated in places that got hot, and Yae was no different. In the cramped confines of her bra beneath her uniform, there was no circulation of air. Yae’s core body heat spread all around me and her breasts. To cool herself down, small beads of sweat started to form. There weren’t many as it was still a cool morning, but Yae was still walking, warming herself up.

Inside Yae’s stuffy bra, I could see the sweat collect around me. Half a centimeter tall liquid beads of water poured down and spread around the Transport Orb. It was like watching rainfall, only the raindrops were half my height. It looked like I was looking at a window that was being hit by a power washer. I was thankful for the filter system on the transport orb because if there were any holes in it to let air in instead, I’d be soaked or possibly drowning in Yae’s sweat. 

The idea of drowning in Yae’s sweat made my body shiver. I wasn’t sure what to think about that. I mentally apologized to Yae for being unable to hear her and being distracted by her breasts, but it was unavoidable in this case. A pool of water was collecting above me while the orb was held in place. Pushing the button on the transport orb to communicate with Yae, I spoke up.

“Um… Yae, I don’t know how to put this but... could you spread your boobs out? Your sweat is kind of collecting on the necklace.”

I was thrown forward by my momentum when Yae suddenly stopped, probably doing a double-take at my words in surprise. The orb was still held in place by her chest, unfortunately, so I was no less freed from the pressure around me or the sweat pooling above me.

Yae was at least quick to answer my request. For a moment, the walls around me moved apart. The pool of water that collected above me dripped down around the orb while the remaining beads still clung to skin colored mountains. I had to remind myself that this was Yae’s body. This was no ordinary terrain but a girl’s body that I was enveloped by. I watched in awe as my surroundings changed so quickly on Yae’s whim. 

Then, as quickly as they separated, they slammed back in. I was caught off guard by the irregular rattling caused by being hit from both the left and right breasts at once. As powerful as Yae was to be able to remove the pool of sweat that coated the orb by simply moving them aside, she was also powerful enough to do the opposite and put them back. 

“Is... okay… Touya?” I could hear Yae’s muffled voice. “Wow… drowning... you… huh?”

“Y-Yeah… Thanks...”

Despite this being the final day of Reduction Week, I was 1.17 cm tall and getting smaller. If being overwhelmed by Yae’s breasts was my baptism to this size, I wondered what else was to come. I groaned and tried to rest my body amidst the swinging and shaking of Yae’s body. I also frowned when I saw the beads of sweat form and collect again. This was going to be how the rest of the trip to school was like, and I knew we weren’t even half way there yet.

When there is nothing around you to reference the progress you are making, it becomes difficult to determine distance or time. I considered it an effect of isolation. How many minutes passed? How far had we gotten? I couldn’t tell. What was our ordinary trip to school couldn’t be that long of a walk, but I had no idea how many times I had been thrown about and slammed repeatedly by Yae’s breasts while she walked. Being stuck inside the orb on her necklace, I had nothing I can do but hold my bags and constantly get tossed around. Even whenever she stopped at a crosswalk or just paused for a moment, Yae didn’t talk to me because she knew I couldn’t easily hear her now that I had fallen in her cleavage.

I was thankful when Yae finally took me out. I was lifted back out into the light and dangled in front of Yae’s face when she arrived at school. It was a strange sight I was greeted to when my eyes adjusted to the light again. Well, what light I had available to me. Yae was once again blocking the light with her body, but this really made a picturesque image. I couldn’t focus my eyes on anything except her. The other students, the other locks, everything else was too far away from me to clearly see, but Yae was so close, her enormous face was the only thing in focus as she took off the necklace and held it in front of her. The light from the school entrance far in the distance made a halo around her figure. It was enchanting… practically angelic. I always considered Yae a cute beauty, but this sight really made me want to pray to the gods in gratitude for giving me the blessing of seeing it.

“Phone… Phone…,” I stumbled through my pockets to pull out my phone and take a photo of the sight. I had finally been able to charge it the night before thanks to the Portable Hotel Room, so I could use it again to take photos I wanted to take. It was hard to keep the camera steady when the entire necklace was swaying left to right. Yae wasn’t even moving her hand, but I was still swinging around like a pendulum.

When I succeeded in taking a quality snapshot, Yae spoke to me. “Okay, Touya. We’re supposed to wait for someone to come this morning. Did you enjoy the trip?”

“Enjoy? Well, being surrounded by your chest made me curious about how it’d feel directly,” I told her my feelings while pocketing my phone. I made her smile and blush with those words. “Though I’m fine with not actually trying it too. It was suffocating enough having this thing surrounded on all sides. And your sweat is scary.”

“I didn’t think I was sweating,” Yae told me. “I guess that’s this size for you though, Touya. You can notice things I definitely wouldn’t.”

“No kidding. I found my shoes in your shoe yesterday after all, remember?” I recalled the experience practically 24 hours earlier.

“Yeah,” Yae sheepishly smiled, knowing it had been her fault. “Speaking of which, where did you put them this time?”

“I took them with me. I’d lose them if I didn’t.”

“That was probably a good idea,” Yae smiled. “You probably don’t want any situation like yesterday, right?”

“Please no,” I begged. 

“Fufu~!” Yae giggled at my immediate request. I suddenly found myself lowered down to the floor at tremendous speeds. My body slammed onto the top panel of the transport necklace as Yae bent down. I immediately realized what she was doing. My surroundings of the expansive school entrance disappeared and were replaced by black walls and darkness. When the necklace hit the bottom, gravity took me again and I fell. “Are you sure, Touya? You took so long climbing my foot yesterday. Didn’t you like it?”

“Really funny, Yae,” I didn’t enjoy the fact that she was teasing me. Because this was the last day, she was getting her shots in while she could. She had lowered the necklace so that the container I was in was actually inside her loafer which she had taken off. I had experience being in a shoe the day before, but now that I was only 1.12 cm tall, it had grown into a tremendous cave. This being Yae’s loafer instead of her indoor slipper, though, it was a midnight blue all around. I was still in the light in the opening at the heel, but I could see where the light ended and the shadows began further away. It was dark on the other end of Yae’s shoe; I could barely make out the toe of the shoe, but I could see the deep indentations caused by Yae’s toes constantly wearing down on the insole.

I at least felt safe because I was in the properly constructed, filtrated, and air conditioned container. I was careful not to hit the switch on the top panel of the necklace to open the sealed entrance. It probably wouldn’t be dangerous, but I definitely did not want to imagine the smell of Yae’s loafer after the long walk to school. I had already gotten a whiff of her foot sweat the day before, but now at my current height, I was sure it’d be much more profound. And by profound, I meant incapacitating. A muggy fog was visible lingering around Yae’s freshly worn shoe. Her heat hot body had generated while walking made the environment around me swampy and oppressive.

Beep.

“Huh?” I looked up after hearing a sudden electronic buzzer. The panel where the transport container was attached was a part of the necklace and had a variety of buttons and the hi-tech filtration and air conditioning. I had inadvertently hit something when I had slammed into it. It wasn’t something that opened the door or operated the ventilation however.

It was the emergency supply button apparently. A part of the panel opened up and an item popped out. I caught it and saw that it was a gas mask. There was even a simple instructional guide picture guide on how to put it on. I supposed it made sense to have this in case something went wrong with the container, but I groaned at the implication of its appearance.

“Is something wrong, Touya?” Yae asked.

“Um… A gas mask just popped out of nowhere. Did you know this thing had one?” I answered.

“A gas mask? No. That’s news to me… Wait, you aren’t thinking of going out, are you?”

I had absolutely no desire to do that. Even if she paid me or blackmailed me, Yae was not going to get me to go out willingly. I was grateful that even she was balking at the idea.

Unfortunately, Yae wasn’t able to remove me from the loafer in time before we had a sudden interruption.

Pomf!

“Good morning~, Yae-chan~!”

“Eep! Senpai?”

A sudden hug from behind caused Yae to yip and drop me. I fell on my rear when the necklace fell and the chain dropped into the shoe.

“Oof… Yae, who was that?... Oh...” I drifted off upon looking up. My first sight was the vertical walls of the shoe, rising up all around me. They were easily three to four times my height and unscalable due to the inward curve of the leather, meaning I wouldn’t be able to get out unless Yae took the necklace out. 

Now as to why Yae could’t take it out, I could hardly see outside the shoe in the first place to see. I could see two different colored pillars twisted together. One was black, which I recognized as Yae’s thigh high, while the other was white with an usual blue wave pattern at the top. It took a moment to process the enormous trees I was staring at as people, but I realized who it was just from the stocking alone.

“Yanase-senpai’s who we were waiting for, huh?”

“Hehehe~! Did I scare you, Yae-chan~? You were so focused on your shoes, I couldn’t help myself~!”

“Senpai… Why are you the one here?”

“Why to help you and Touya-kun of course~! Nacchan and I finally finished all the behind the scenes work yesterday, so we can join you now~! I’m so glad I caught you~!”

It was definitely her. Yanase-senpai was an upperclassman who Yae and I both knew from middle school. She was also on the health committee with me, typically working with Kamiya-senpai… whenever she wasn’t working as the student council secretary. Despite her ditzy appearance and laid-back demeanor, Senpai was a very diligent, genius third year student. We didn’t see her as often as we used to because she was so busy now.

She was also, however, playful to a fault.

“Kyah! Senpai, what are you...”

“Oh my~! Yae-chan, you’re still ticklish there as always~! You never change~!”

What was going on? Probably one of Yanase-senpai’s skinship sessions with Yae. Judging by the twisting legs I could somewhat see from where I was inside the shoe, Senpai was coming on strong. And judging from the sounds, she was really giving Yae an aggressive session.

“S-Stop, S-senpai, please. People are going to see!”

“There isn’t anyone here yet~! Well, except Touya-kun, but that’s fine too~!”

“T-Touya, don’t look!”

I couldn’t look. Thanks to how close I was to the heel of Yae’s shoe, I couldn’t see much past the building high wall of her loafer. Did I want to see it? If I had to be honest, I absolutely did. I was a healthy high school boy after all. Yanase-senpai understood Yae’s cuteness almost as much as I did, and she herself was a beauty in her own right. To see two girls fooling around with some skinship was something no man would refuse.

“But do I dare?” I mumbled to myself, looking out of the orb. The smell of Yae’s shoe was probably going to be overwhelming. Was I interested enough to brave going out into the rancid cave that was a frequently used loafer? I had already had enough of the stench of feet since the night before.

“Yae-chan, heal me~! I’ve been working hard all week for this Reduction Program~! I’m so tired~!”

“K-Kyah! W-wait, not there! Senpai, please let go! It’s coming out!”

Coming out? Really, what was going on out there? Yanase-senpai wasn’t going too far was she?

My ‘curiosity’ won out over my sense of self-preservation. At the very least, finding the emergency gas mask was a gift from the gods. I put it on and pressed the button to open the sealed entrance.

“Well, here goes,” I told myself as the door opened.

Whoosh!

“Gak… Gah…!” It had been an issue of thermodynamics. The hot air around Yae’s shoe rushed in to displace the cool air conditioned air inside. Despite having the gas mask, I choked. It was like a sandstorm blew by. My body was assaulted with a gust of rancid air, lint, and dirt. It was sharp. Too sharp. Even the gas mask wasn’t enough to prevent it from entering. I probably would have been knocked out without it because it pierced even my dulled senses. I considered that a curse, instead of a blessing, however.

Yae’s loafer had accumulated all of her sweat, sock lint, and odor for every day she had worn them in school, and this most recent morning’s walk was yet another addition. I had thought the salty and sour odor was foul when I was bigger, but it was even more intense now. Combined with the thick smell of leather, I choked. Even the slightest trace of humidity made the air thick to me. I imagined I was pushing my way through a toxic haze. Instead of remnants of the scent entering my nose, it was like I was being directly assaulted by Yae’s foot. The only time that happened before was when Yae stepped on me during the punishment game, but this didn’t have the relief of the fact that it was post-bath and it lacked the scented lotion that tried to cover it up. 

I made a terrible decision to be tempted by the conversation I had heard. My eyes were tearing up and my nose was dripping inside the mask. Was it defective or was the smell just that strong? I could taste the sweat soaked leather as the odor pierced through my nose and down my throat.

Cough. Cough.

“If I’m going to suffer like this, I might as well go all the way,” I resolved myself to not turn back to the necklace and walked further away from the orb so I could look up at Yae and Yanase-senpai fooling around.

“Ah, Touya-kun went out~,” I suddenly heard.

Turning around, I saw I had been too slow. I was greeted by the sight of Yanase-senpai’s white panties because she had stopped messing with Yae and approached the loafers on the floor while I was walking out.

“Eh? Really? Touya, I thought you wouldn’t go out in a million years,” behind Senpai, I could see Yae trying to fix her disheveled uniform.

“Maybe he just really likes your feet, Yae-chan~!” Senpai laughed.

I wanted to salvage my reputation if I could. “... Cough… Yae, please let her know that’s… Cough…  definitely not the case...The smell’s… cough… going through... cough cough… the mask...”

“... Touya says that wasn’t why,” I heard Yae forward my message to Senpai. She sounded a little hurt from my words. Did she actually want me to enjoy where I currently was? I hoped not.

“Well, I guess that means Touya-kun just wanted to see me playing with you, Yae-chan~!” Yanase-senpai deduced my actual reason for coming out in an instant.

“Touya... you pervert...” I heard Yae mumble. My reputation could only go down.

Senpai seemed to be enjoying Yae’s and my little back and forth. She looked down at me inside the shoe and gave me a wave.

“To even think of leaving the safety of the pendant, fufu~n~!” she told me. “Touya-kun, you sure are brave~!”

Brave? More like reckless. I had been thinking more with my lower half than my own brain earlier. I felt ashamed of myself, but I stayed silent as Senpai continued to look down at me.

“Y’know~, I’m so glad Nacchan gave me this job~!” smiled Yanase-senpai. “I never thought I’d see Touya-kun trapped in Yae-chan’s loafer~!”

“It’s way too surreal when you say it out loud, Senpai…,” Yae stated what I was also thinking. “Touya, you should get back into the pendant. It's dangerous out there.”

I understood that more than Yae did. While Yae was worried about her putting on the shoe and stepping on me, the toxic air around me was my bigger priority. I wanted to get back inside the necklace as well now that I no longer had a reason to come out.

Unfortunately, Senpai was not going to let me.

“Oof!”

I was pinned down before I could start moving by Senpai’s finger. She held me still, pushing me into the heel of Yae’s shoe. There was no way I could fight a skyscraper that completely covered me and was many times my weight, so I tried to relax my muscles to not strain them further while she pushed.

“Sorry, Touya-kun~, but I did come here for a reason~!” Senpai giggled.

What kind of reason was it? Yae had said we were waiting for someone in the morning, so if Yanase-senpai had come to help as part of the health committee, that meant it had to do with the program.

“Ah!”

To my dismay, my sanctuary, the necklace, was lifted into the sky and out of my reach. Senpai shut its entrance and clenched her fist, sealing it away and leaving me without my belongings or an escape from Yae’s shoe. She did this while still looking down at me with her usual, flowery smile.

“Sorry~, you can’t rely on this to protect you today~,” she told me before standing back up and turning to Yae. She handed the necklace to Yae. “Touya-kun, I’m here to teach you to not worry too much~.”

To not worry?

“What do you mean by that, Senpai?” Yae asked. “Is it about the Safety Soles? Is there something like that for today?

“Ah, well, we will be giving you the soles later~! But you don’t really need them Yae-chan~! That’s why I said not to worry~,” Senpai answered. 

“What?” Yae and I asked simultaneously.

“Fufu~n~. Yae-chan, since Touya-kun didn’t get the same lecture as the boys last night, we’ll have to teach you quickly~! I have the best method~,” Senpai smiled, apparently having gotten a good idea - or rather, a fun idea in her eyes. I didn’t like being unable to see anybody when Senpai pulled Yae away to apparently whisper something into her ear. She didn’t have to step that far away because the range of my vision was still low due to the towering walls of Yae’s slipper.

“E-Eh?! Senpai, is that allowed?”

“Ehehe~! Nacchan said I needed to teach you two quick~! The physical method is best~!” 

“I feel like you just want to mess with us.”

“Well~ there’s that too~! It’s all part of the program, Yae-chan~!”

I did not like the sound of the conversation I was hearing. Despite my dislike of the fetid air around me, I had half a mind to go deeper into Yae’s shoe to find a safer location when Yanase-senpai approached the shoe and filled my field of view again.

“Touya-kun~ Touya-kun~!” she called me happily. “Since you were playing with Yae-chan last night, did you have some fun with her~?”

Senpai asked. It was clear she was trying to tease me. I was grateful that I couldn’t talk to her to give her the reaction she wanted. I was also used to Senpai a lot more than Yae so I was unmoved by her words.

Yae, on the other hand, fell for it hook-line-and-sinker. “S-Senpai, that’s a little...”

“Ah, so you did~!”

“Yae, you can be really gullible at times,” I used the microphone to tell her.

“I-I’m working on that, Touya!” she retorted.

“Fufu~n~. I can guess what Touya-kun said~. It’s always so fun talking to you two~,” Senpai giggled. “Well, at least this makes things easier~!”

Easier? How would that make things easier?

I wanted to ask that question or get Yae to ask,but my answer arrived immediately when a shadow fell over me. A primal fear took over me when I looked up and saw the cause of the shadow that blocked out all of the light that was entering the shoe.

A black sock - Yae’s stocking clad foot.

Being a member of the health committee, I understood there was no way I’d be in serious danger from something Yanase-senpai was allowed to do, and being so trusting of Yae, I believed there’d be no way she’d do something bad. But being the size of a bug, I understood the difference between myself and the giants above me, and being inside a shoe, I understood that feet went into the gigantic cavern I was standing in.

I also understood that I was prime material for toying with now that I was close to 1 cm tall. That was why despite how much I assured myself it’d be alright in the end, every cell in my body seized up. Fear overcame me and my legs lost their strength. I fell back on my butt staring up at the sight of Yae’s thigh-high foot above me, scrunching her toes, her largest being larger than I was tall. I had climbed Yae’s feet the night before, but they were now four times bigger, growing from a multi-story complex to a skyscraper. That skyscraper was now hovering right over me.

“Y-Yae… don’t tell me… Hey, I can’t die from this... can I?”

“Senpai, are you really sure this is safe for Touya?”

“It’ll only be for less than a minute~! I guarantee you~!” Yanase-senpai answered before turning her attention to me. “Touya-kun, we want you to understand that this will be fine~!  Also, please don’t complain~. You signed the contract, remember~?”

This was a consequence of being an exception. There was no way this was within the Reduction Program manual. There was no way any of the girls would be doing this to strangers without risking getting in trouble. But I wasn’t a stranger. I was another member of the health committee club and, having signed the exemption form in the first place, I allowed the health committee members to do what they needed to make sure I received an equivalent experience to the other boys. I guessed the boys had a long term lecture the night before, but since we didn’t have time for a full lesson, Yanase-senpai opted for making me learn through my body.

While there were definitely better ways, this was certainly one of the cases where my being smaller attracted the girls’ more catty natures. It might have also had to do with my relationships with the other girls in the club. Yanase-senpai knew me and Yae for a while, so this was actually par for the course for her.

Still, wanting to make Yae step on me felt like high level bullying. I could see while Yae kept her foot raised above her loafer that Yanase-senpai’s eyes were sparkling with excitement.

“Okay, Yae-chan~! Forty seconds should be enough~! Go!”

“Sorry, Touya.”

I didn’t run. I couldn’t because I had fallen. And even if I did, this was Yae’s shoe, something made to fit Yae’s feet. Even if I ran, I’d still be overtaken by her socked foot as it entered. There was no way to get ready but to grit my teeth and close my eyes as Yae stuck her foot into the slipper to put it on.

“Mmph!”

“This is so surreal… This is even worse than yesterday.”

“Yesterday~? Yae-chan, did you two get up to something lewd last night~?”

“I-It wasn’t lewd!”

“Mmph! Mmmphff!”

Unlike the night before where Yae had accidentally stepped on me on the bed for a brief moment, I was now 4 times smaller. Yae’s socked foot completely overtook me when it had entered and the ball of her foot had slammed into me. I was dragged along with it from the heel and ended up deeper inside Yae’s shoe as a result. My body felt like it was being flattened from how heavy the weight of Yae’s foot was while she stood. Yae was buffering her weight by leaning back on her heel so as to not fully press down on me, but it was still intense because her shoe was already a tight fit alone for her foot.

At the moment, I was nothing more than a pebble in Yae’s shoe. I clutched the sock fibers helplessly as I could not move any part of my body. I couldn’t even turn my head as it was pressed down so tightly by her foot. The gas mask had fallen off so I was getting a mouthful of Yae’s sock. The thick, rough fibers felt like fuzzy cattails. I wanted to vomit from the salty taste of the sweat stained sock but my mouth was already clogged up.

I felt nauseous. My nose was pierced by the sour, thick odor of wet fabric and foot sweat pouring from Yae’s sock, and while I wanted to not breathe it in, I had to because there was no way I was getting air otherwise. Even the temperature seemed to rise because of how confined and tight it was.

It was suffocating. Even more so than just being in the smelly loafer, earlier with Yae’s foot inside of it, it was suffering. Even so, I was alive. How was I still alive? There was so little air and so much strength was pushing down on me that my bones would have been broken and turned to paste. How great was the Reduction process that I was surviving this with nary an injury? That was what Senpai wanted me to learn with my body - that despite the hundreds of tons of force pushing down on me, I would survive it. But was I enjoying that realization? No.

After the forty seconds were finally over, Yae was finally allowed to free me. I found myself glued to her sock as she took her foot out of her loafer. Was it the stickiness of the sweat or the fact that I had been pressed against her sock for so long? I didn’t know why, but I found myself in a precarious location - hanging dozens of meters above the ground as Yae kept her foot above the floor.

“So Yae-chan, how did it feel~?” I heard Senpai’s voice.

Before Yae answered, she forced me to endure multiple g’s of acceleration as she grabbed her ankle and then pulled her foot up so that she could see my body clinging to her sock.

“It was hard to actually feel him,” she answered. “Touya, are you okay?”

“If I develop a foot fetish in the future, please smack me,” I replied. My body was actually perfectly fine, but I was mentally exhausted from the experience.

“Sounds like you are,” Yae lightly chuckled as she pinched me off her foot. I ground my teeth as my body was accelerated high up to her face. “I’m sorry, Touya. I have to listen to all of the health committee members so I couldn’t just say no to Yanase-senpai.”

I understood. Yae didn’t need to apologize. If there was anyone who had to, it would be Yanase-senpai, but the giant upperclassman seemed to be too amused to be apologetic.

“How cute~!” she smiled. “Haah~ I’ve been so busy lately that I missed playing with you two~! ”

Yae and I would have appreciated keeping her even busier after this experience, but Senpai was at least satisfied so she was not going to be doing much else. She had also completed her job for the day. I thought these words as Yae brought out the necklace for me again. I was actually glad to crawl back in where it was safer and where my belongings were.

“Thank you for being so cooperative, Touya-kun, Yae-chan~,” Senpai bowed to us. “I hope this showed just how durable you are now that you’re this small~.”

I was durable. Very durable in fact. It was excruciating and humiliating to be smothered by Yae’s foot inside her shoe, but I had not only survived but came out with any bruises or broken bones. I even survived the incredibly low oxygen environment and the burning heat.

“It looks like you get it~,” Senpai smiled as she squinted her eyes to see what I was doing. “See~? Wasn’t this faster than an hour long slideshow~? Well, now that that’s done, I hope you two are prepared for today~.”

“Prepared? It can’t be as weird as this, can it?” Yae was reluctant to ask.

“Ah, about that~,” Senpai actually seemed reluctant to answer but knew she had to. “As an apology for Touya-kun, I’ll give you a friendly warning, okay~?”

A warning. That did not sound good.

“You see~! Nacchan and I were stuck figuring out how to organize the last day~. And the other girls complained we were giving all the good parts to Takahashi-san and Nao-chan~!” Senpai explained. “The other girls wanted to have fun too~ But we couldn’t just let them do this to all of the boys~!

I immediately understood where Yanase-senpai was going with her explanation. I grimaced. 

“So Touya-kun, since you’re our committee member, we said it’d be fine to do stuff to your class if you take the brunt of it~! We came up with a fun plan so please do your best to play with everybody today~!”

My hand met my forehead at terminal velocity. Why? Of course, the answer was definitely ‘because it will be fun’ if I could ask it. The foot crushing this morning was just an introduction of what was to come. While the Reduction Program aimed to be as professional as possible, the fact that high school students ended up helping Sensei organize it meant there would still be some hectic events like this. 

I sighed and accepted it. There was nothing I could do, especially at my current state. Today really was going to be a crazy day.

(40) Day 5 Morning Inspection (1.12 cm > 1.10 cm)

All of the insanity didn’t start immediately at least. Yanase-senpai left us to go complete some student council work so Yae was safe to bring me to the classroom while inside her pendant again. For that, I was grateful. I never wanted to be attacked by a foot ever again. I wondered if I was starting to develop a trauma for feet after all that had happened? At the very least, this had to be some sort of Pavlovian training to get me to scrunch my nose every time a foot was mentioned.

Yae spent the entirety of our trip to the classroom apologizing. Though I was the one who had been stepped on by her, I didn’t blame her. When it came down to it, Yanase-senpai was one of the bigger wildcards in the committee like Okazaki. I accepted that and just let it side. The other members were at least somewhat normal so even if she said that they wanted to join in on the activities today, I doubted it’d be anything extreme.

“We’re here, Touya,” she told me when she unhooked the chain of the necklace and let me and the chain lie flat on her open palm.

I was hesitant to get out of the necklace, so I didn’t, but I was thankful to see that Yae hadn’t grown much since the walk from the shoe lockers to the classroom. The shrinking had been slowing down now that I was in the final stages. However, when everything was nearly 180 times as large as I was, a few extra meters wasn’t too extreme of a difference. 

What was more of breath-taking and worrisome was the number of people looking at me, however.

“Asano-senpai? Kyaa~! That means Senpai is here first again.”

“Ah. I’m glad you’re here. And you’re using the equipment for Kirishima like I asked. Good.”

“As always, Asano’s early. How do you do it? Urgh… I can’t wait for this week to be over...”

Okazaki, Sasakura-sensei, and Takahashi began to crowd Yae, and therefore me since I was being held in the center of all four of them. To be surrounded on all four sides by four women over 300 m tall, I certainly didn’t want to crawl out of the transport orb. I didn’t want another repeat of what happened with Yanase-senpai. The orb was safest. Even if Senpai had assured me I’d be fine even if I were stepped on, it was safest.

Unfortunately, this morning routine was going to be the same as the previous day. Sensei needed to get my height measurement and things had to be explained to me.

“Come on, kiddo. Get out of there. I need to get all of the equipment back from Asano,” Sensei ordered me to come out and get onto Yae’s palm. I could see that Yae handed her the paper bag with the Reduction equipment.

“Sensei, does that include the belt and everything Touya’s wearing too? I think he still has the microphone from the hotel room too” Yae asked.

“He still has them on? Then I suppose if he still has the belt, he can still wear it. It’ll make measuring him easier. I do need everything else though. That goes for your headset too, Asano.”

“Eh? But then I won’t be able to hear Touya.”

“Exactly.”

So I was going to be losing my ability to speak to Yae or anyone normal sized. I supposed Sensei had only given me the Reduction equipment because I was staying over at Yae’s place. Now that we were at school, I was going to have to follow the program like everyone else. It was convenient while it lasted in any case.

“Hehe~. You hear that, Senpai? You can leave everything but your belt,” Okazaki leaned forward to tell me but was pulled back by Sensei so she wouldn’t get too close. I didn’t appreciate being treated like a child, but I supposed they hadn’t directly spoken to me, so they wanted to make sure I was aware.

Making sure to leave behind the Reduction Equipment I had used yesterday, I grabbed the rest of my things and stumbled out onto the plain of Yae’s hand. I could see fingers thicker and taller than trees rise upwards as Yae curled them to prevent me from falling while Sensei took the necklace back. I felt naked now that I could longer talk to Yae properly.

“Good. Takahashi, can you confirm his height? Asano, I’d like to see if your phone’s reading is correct as well.”

“Okay.” “Yes, Sensei.” The two girls stated as Takahashi’s fingers descended upon me. I held my belongings tight as the girl’s thumb and index finger pressed against me, trapping my entire body between the giant digits.

“Oof!” The strength of Takahashi’s fingers were incredible. The pressure wasn’t as heavy as Yae’s foot had been, but it was still enough to knock the wind out of me.

Takahashi brought me over to the table the health committee had set up by the room. At one of the stations set up on the table, Takahashi pressed me against a towering ruler. She then took out a magnifying glass to get a closer look at me. I froze up when I saw Takahashi’s magnified eye focusing its gaze on me.

“Wow. Around 1 cm.”

“Use the caliper,” Sensei advised, wanting a more exact value. Takahashi frowned and pushed me down with her finger.

“Oof.”

Lining up the caliper to my body lying on the table, Takahashi squinted, trying to get an accurate measurement. “1.10 cm.”

“Ok. Good. We’ve got the same thing here. Okazaki, write that down. I’m giving you ten seconds, so don’t fool around or I’m swapping you with Saeki later today.”

“Y-Yes! I got it.”

So this was it. I was down to 1.10 cm. I had really come a long way since I was 180 cm. If I were 1.8, everything would be 100 times by size but this was smaller. Once I hit 0.9 cm, I’d be 200 times smaller than my original height. Being next to the caliper and ruler really put things into perspective, especially the ruler. The notches on the ruler were longer than I was tall, and the transparent plastic tower was building sized to me. It goes without saying that Takahashi who was standing in front of me was even more titanic.

“Looking at you like this, it’s hard to believe you’re Kirishima-kun,” Takahashi remarked and kneeled down so she could rest her head atop the table while continuing to look at me through the magnifying glass with a smug grin and half-lidded eyes. “I mean, if I get a close look then you are, but considering you’re this small, you must’ve had a fun time with Asano last night.”

She had no idea.

“Oh, I saw that face you just made. I guess you did something special,” she chuckled. “I’ll be sure to pry that out of both of you later.”

Yae would most likely tell her despite any attempts to hide it. I, at least, had the benefit of being even more inaudible than a bug. Unfortunately, that didn’t keep me away from Takahashi’s teasing.

Thud!

“Wah!” I stumbled back the moment Takahashi brought her index finger down right next to me. The pillar of a finger wasn’t aimed at me, but it was so close, the heavy impact alone knocked me over. This wasn’t the only finger she used either. She used two fingers to mimic a walking person and playfully circled me. I stayed motionless, as annoyed as I was intimidated.

“Well, this is going to be a fun day,” Takahashi smirked, knowing what was in store for me. “It may have been a lot of trouble getting up early, but I guess filling in for you has been entertaining, Kirishima-kun.”

I was so going to get her back when I turned back to normal. She enjoyed riling me up far too much. 

“Takahashi, don’t tell me I have to lecture you too,” Sensei warned.

“Yeah, no fair. I wanted to mess with Senpai too!” Okazaki added.

Not wanting to exert much effort retorting, the lethargic girl ignored Okazaki and withdrew her hand, standing back up. She scratched the back of her head with one hand and then yawned. 

“Waaah… Mnn…,” Takahashi scratched underneath her eye. “So Sensei, do you want me to give the explanation or are you going to do it?”

Glancing to the side, Sasakura-sensei sighed. “We can leave the explanation for later. Looks like Kamiya’s here with the boys.”

Kamiya?

Upon hearing those words, my neck snapped in the direction the school nurse had been facing. The name Kamiya only meant one person.

“Sasakura-sensei, I have brought everyone over along with the rest of the materials just like you requested,” an elegant voice spoke up calmly and respectfully. “Nao-chan, I believe this means that it is your turn now. May I ask for your help setting things up?”

“Coming, Kamiya-senpai.” Okazaki ran off to assist/do her job. I was safe from one giant woman, but a new one had entered the fray. With my underclassman taking some materials from the cart that had been brought to the classroom and setting them up in the classroom, Kamiya-senpai was free to walk past Takahashi and approach me.

“Good morning, Kirishima-kun,” Kamiya-senpai leaned over and centered her gaze on my 1.10 cm tall form atop the table. “It looks like I finally get to be on duty with handling you today.”

Kamiya-senpai was the health committee's de facto head. Though I was a member who helped Sasakura-sensei a lot, the most responsible member of the committee was the prim and proper Kamiya-senpai. If Sasakura-sensei needed something done like a school announcement or the organization of an event, she could rely on Senpai to do it quickly and efficiently. In fact, asides from me, the successful organization of the Reduction Week program at school had been mostly thanks to Kamiya-senpai. She was also the other of the two upperclassmen who wrote the messages to me inside the Portable Hotel Room.

As it turned out, she had to pull double duty since I had been shrunken so I hadn’t seen her all week. Takahashi couldn’t do every single one of my duties with less than a week of experience after all. From what Yanase-senpai had said earlier, the two of them had been busy all week and were only now free from all of the behind the scenes work.

I watched as Kamiya-senpai huffed and glowered at me. They lady-like grace probably thought her pout was cute, but it was unnerving to see someone over 300 m tall even fake being angry. “Mmuu… You sure are lucky getting some time off, Kirishima-kun. I believe you should be thanking me for picking up the slack while you were gone.”

She wasn’t treating me any different despite my size. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, I didn’t know. I actually would have thanked her if I could have, but with my microphone gone, she wouldn’t hear it. Thankfully, Kamiya-senpai was a lot more professional than Yanase-senpai. She let me off easy for being unable to thank her.

“Well, you actually are still helping Sensei by being the first boy in our committee to shrink so I suppose I can let it slide,” Senpai retreated away from the table and then turned to Yae. She bowed in greeting. “Oh my, you must be that ‘Yae’ Kirishima-kun talks about so often. He brags to Emi-chan so often, that I ended up hearing plenty about you. It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Kamiya from the Health Committee.”

“N-Nice to meet you, Kamiya-senpai,” Yae returned the bow, surprised at Senpai’s poise and manners. “...Emi-chan?”

That was Yanase-senpai’s first name. Though Yae and I were close enough to Yanase-senpai to know it, it felt strange hearing the name come out of Kamiya-senpai’s mouth. Then again, Yanase-senpai called her Nacchan so the two were clearly close.

“Fufu~!” I heard a breath escape from Senpai. I had a bad feeling. Since I was rather honest to a fault, Senpai knew a lot about my and Yae’s relationship despite never meeting her. “I can see why Kirishima-kun was so gung-ho about the paperwork for the dormitory exemption now. You really are as cute as he said.”

“C-Cute?” Yae was flustered to hear one of my compliments from someone else. Senpai came within centimeters of Yae’s face and grabbed both of her hands to tell her those words.

“Do you mind if I call you ‘Yae-chan’? I apologize if it sounds forward, but after hearing so much about you from Kirishima-kun, I have always wanted to meet you.”

“Meet me? Why wo-... What did Touya say about me?” 

“Senpai, please don’t tell her anything,” I begged, though she couldn’t hear. The answer, in any case, was everything, but Yae didn’t need to know that.

Thankfully, Senpai didn’t answer. I was grateful that Senpai was very straight-laced. She avoided answering by laying on the skinship by pulling Yae closer for a moment longer, holding her hands tightly and unnerving her enough to withdraw her question. After that, she got back back to business and turned to my substitute.  “Oh, right. Takahashi-san, have you given Kirishima-kun an explanation for how the schedule for today will go yet?”

“No. Not yet,” Takahashi shook her head. “Did you want to do that?”

“We can do it together. Truth be told, Kirishima-kun is an exception so he has to receive a separate explanation for some portions anyways,” Kamiya-senpai said before turning around to Sasakura-sensei. “Sensei, I believe Morino-san, Akagi-san, and Saeki-san should be on the way so that they can measure the boys. May I assist Takahashi-san with Kirishima-kun?”

“Sure thing,” nodded our school nurse. “By the way, he has the Tracer Belt on, so you should keep that in mind for later today, okay?”

“Oh my, the belt? Very well then. That actually makes things easier,” Kamiya-senpai nodded. I wondered what it was that was happening later today, but I supposed I would find out soon enough.

Senpai had Yae pick me up and had her follow Takahashi into the classroom. What I saw was the ordinary classroom but it seemed as though Okazaki was doing something all around the classroom. She was too far to clearly make out what she was placing under the tables but it definitely had to do with the program.

“So where do I put Touya today?” Yae’s voice asked from above me. I looked up to see only the underside of her chest from my view down in her hands. The same went for Takahashi who was right next to her.

“For now you can put him on the ground. He should probably get a full view of the classroom,” Takahashi casually replied.

“Eh? Is that really okay?” Yae was concerned.

“Fufu~n!” I could hear Kamiya-senpai’s amusement over Yae’s worry. “It seems as if you have yet to put him on the floor today, Yae-san. If he has not gotten a proper view of his new height yet, you really should give him a chance to take in his latest perspective.”

“Well, he did end up in my shoe though...”

“Ah… Emi-chan… She suggested THAT this morning, did she?” Senpai seemed apologetic. “Well, it is to be expected of her. In any case, the floor is very different from a cramped shoe, so please do place him there.”

“You’re putting Senpai on the floor? Oh, let me join too,” I heard Okazaki say. She immediately barged into the group just as Yae started to kneel down. I braced myself as she lowered me faster than any safe elevator. I had to cling onto her tree sized fingers to stop myself from flying off.

Upon putting me onto the floor, Yae stood back up. Senpai was right. The floor was definitely different than being inside a shoe. I could actually step back and crane my neck up to see everything. I thought to crane my neck up to follow her rise into the sky, but the first thing to take my attention was right in front of me. 

“Uwoh! A..Ah… Uwah...”

My reaction came in three parts.

First, I was shocked to realize I turn around and see a massive indoor shoe the size of a school wing. I could no longer see the top of Yae’s indoor slipper because I was now only the same height as the thickness of the Safety Sole Yae had to put on her shoe. If I wanted to see anything behind her toe, I had to move like I would around a building.

Next, I lost my train of thought when I started to look up… and up… and up. I knew everything was massive, but I had only seen half of Yae’s true height while on tables or in her hands. Now that I was on the floor… Her legs clad with black thigh highs just went on and on for around 150 meters into the sky. Despite the color black’s ability to make things seem slim, Yae’s legs were thicker and mightier than a 1000 year old tree.

Lastly, I was rendered speechless trying to crane my neck to see Yae’s face. Someone over 300 m tall really was nothing to scoff at. It was impossible to see all of her at once, and my vision became unfocused after Yae’s chest. I could make out her expression but her face was so high up it was impossible to see the details clearly.

Yae was on a completely different level than me. If her feet alone were the size of high rise buildings, the rest of the body towered and loomed over everything on the floor such as myself. That went for the other girls too. Takahashi, Okazaki, and Kamiya-senpai were equally as gigantic. I wonder what I looked like to them while they looked down at me. 

“Kirishima-kun, please make sure you record your thoughts on this size for Sensei to use as a reference later,” Kamiya-senpai broke my out of my stupor. She was aware of my job while I was tiny.

Stomp!

“Grk...” I grit my teeth the moment Okazaki shifted her foot. Though she didn’t approach me, I could feel the impact across the floor.

“Wow, Senpai. You’re really bug-like now,” Okazaki grinned. “I bet if I slipped you into my shoe, you wouldn’t be able to get out. Nishishishi~!”

“Please don’t,” Yae frowned, having flashbacks to five minutes ago. I was as well, or was it PTSD in my case? Nonetheless, Yae defended me. “Touya isn’t anyone’s toy, Okazaki-chan...”

“I’m just kidding. I’m just thinking that if we’re not careful, we’ll lose track of Senpai,” remarked my underclassman. “He’ll get stepped on or worse.”

“That is not a problem at all, Nao-chan. Truth be told, at this size, all of the boys would be fine handling intense pressures even without the Safety Soles. The boys received a lecture on this yesterday night and Kirishima-kun here was also taught this earlier,” Kamiya-senpai informed Okazaki. My underclassman probably hadn’t paid attention enough to Senpai so she didn’t know about what Yanase-senpai had me and Yae do at the shoe lockers earlier.

“So this is just for assurance then,” Takahashi lifted her own foot up to inspect the safety sole. She was also unaware. Even so, I flinched when the shadow of her foot crossed over me in its path up dozens and dozens of meters into the sky. “I guess there are more dangers than just our feet for the guys after all.”

“Please don’t remind me,” Yae frowned, thinking about other situations that weren’t feet related that I had to endure. “Touya had so much trouble yesterday. Even my thighs we- Eep!”

Yae used her hands to physically cover her mouth. She ended up saying too much. I would have been thankful that she caught herself but the moment she did, she stumbled. Since I was directly between both of her feet, I was nearly slammed into by Yae’s left foot as it scuffed across the floor. Even without being hit however, I still flew from the burst of wind alone. I was light enough to be picked up by the slightest breeze. 

“Thighs, you say?” I heard Takahashi as she raised an eyebrow. “Do tell. What dirty things did the two of you get up to while at home?”

“Uwaaah. I’m so jealous,” Okazaki bit her lip. “I want to do stuff to tiny Senpai like that too.”

“Now, now, Nao-chan. I believe this is the privilege of a girlfriend,” giggled Kamiya-senpai. “Though I cannot say that I approve of using the program to get into some illicit antics while you two are still students...”

“N-Nothing happened! I-It wasn’t dirty at all! You can ask Touya! I swear!”

Stomp!

“Uwah!” Without giving me even a chance to react, Yae’s building-sized shoe rose and slammed down with the force of a meteorite. Being right next to the impact zone, I was blown away by Yae’s stomp two thirds of the way to Kamiya-senpai. Yae didn’t even hit me directly but I had been battered and beaten thanks to her embarrassment.

The feet were dangerous enough. Yae stomped her foot multiple times, and each time, my body bounced a meter (in my perspective) in the air. When I landed, I could still feel the earthquake. Just what was the goal of having me on the floor? Was this going to be the same as yesterday? If so, this would be troubling because even just slight movements from the girls now were tremendously destructive to me. Even my adventurous spirit was reluctant to explore when I couldn’t even compare to the toe of Yae’s slipper.

I could feel eyes boring a hole into my back as I laid on the floor. Standing up, I saw Kamiya-senpai had squatted down and placed her hands on her knees. She didn’t seem to mind that she was giving me a view of her panties, which were a surprising jet-black much like her own long hair.

“Calm down, Yae-chan. Kirishima-kun ended up all the way over here because you became so flustered,” Kamiya-senpai advised. “Takahashi-san, you should ease up on riling people up. You did not seem to behave this way with the others this week.”

“It’s just Asano and Kirishima, honestly. I don’t have many friends,” Takahashi shrugged with a yawn, not sad over what she had honestly stated but instead proud.

“I do not think that is something to be proud of,” Senpai frowned before turning to me. “Well, Kirishima-kun, I hope this gave you an idea of how small you are right now. This last day, you will slowly be getting to the minimum permitted size so everything around you will constantly be changing. In fact, you can probably tell that the Reduction is more pronounced despite the fact that you are not losing too much, correct?”

I could. It felt like my body was continuously sinking into the earth. Everything was getting higher and higher as I got smaller.

“So what does that have to do for the schedule for today then then?” asked Yae.

“Good question. Takahashi-san?”

Having the job of explaining pushed to her, Takahashi sighed. She looked down at me and then back up at Yae. “We’ll be splitting up the day into separate sessions. Since by certain periods, they’ll be certain sizes, the health committee will be having the boys do different things so they get a bunch of experiences.”

“Yes,” nodded Kamiya-senpai. She only kept her attention on me instead of Yae. I stared at the index finger she raised up and brought towards me. She lined it up just right so that the tip of her finger blocked my view of her face. “There will be six sessions excluding a break and lunch time. You will be previewing some jobs that can be done while Reduced. Though Kirishima-kun, because you opted to have Yae-chan as your caretaker, she will be in charge of you if the sessions allow for it. Outside of that, we’re giving her permission to have you at her desk during the scheduled break, lunch, and in the last two sections of the day. Those would be the afternoon classes. Please prepare yourself for them.” 

So I’d be separated from the other guys whenever it wasn’t class time and then during our after noon classes. That was good to know. I was already curious about what sessions we would be attending, and I was made more interested when Takahashi pulled out a half sheet of paper that was definitely the schedule. I saw from below that Yae was reading it.

“Eh? Really?”

“Really,” Takahashi bluntly replied.

“Kukuku~! Asano-senpai, are you ready to join me later? This will be fun!” Okazaki laughed.

“Please save that for later, Nao-chan. You still need to finish your work, do you not? Sensei will get angry again if she sees you still have yet to finish,” Kamiya called my underclassman’s attention to the box of things she had yet to unpack.

“Aa… Right… You always remind me when I want to have fun, Senpai… Well, at least there’s only a few things left to do for now.”

Kamiya-senpai then stood back up to her full height after ordering Okazaki away. I could see her putting her finger to her lips. “Yae-chan, you should leave that as a surprise. Takahashi-san, I trust you will not be telling anybody either. Only we health committee members should know. Well, asides for Kirishima-kun.”

“After all the work you did setting things up? Even I’m not that cruel to spoil that,” chuckled Takahashi.

Just what was it they were hinting at? I wanted to know. I really did. But I was left stranded between Kamiya-senpai’s feet as she spoke to the others.

It was after another minute that I saw Okazaki return. To my surprise. She was drawing on the floor of the room with chalk.

“Eh? This is...” Yae and I synchronized.

“A walkway for the boys,” Kamiya-senpai finished the sentence. She took a soft step back so as to avoid scaring me and to get out of Okazaki’s way. I braced myself as Okazaki dashed by with a pillar sized stick of chalk. Her footsteps rumbled through my body as the white stick dragged across the floor past me and then turned around to do the same thing back. I was surrounded on both sides by lines of white chalk roughly 5 cm apart. “Kirishima-kun, before your first session, it will be a repeat of what you experienced already. We want you to get used to the Reduced walkways that some companies use. Please get used to that during homeroom. After that, the committee will be coming in.”

I understood and nodded reflexively. I saw that Okazaki was making the chalk pathways a lot like city intersections… though there was one scribble she really messed up at between what I believed was Nakano’s and Honda’s chairs. If we were just wandering the floors to start things off, that didn’t seem too different from yesterday.

Of course, nothing was ever simple. “Kirishima-kun, I will leave it to you to show the boys to ropes because you are our representative. Please make sure they follow the instructions of each session properly.”

She wanted me to be a leader? Though I actually had confidence in myself in being able to do so, I also thought we’d be following one of the girls’ instructions. It felt odd to admit that having to listen to their every order seemed natural now.

And it seemed it would stay that way so long as I was small. Kamiya-senpai pulled out her phone and then turned back down to me. “Well, though I say that, you may have heard from Emi-chan earlier. Please keep that belt on. That way, the health committee members will be able to distinguish you later. I apologize for the trouble, but you will be the example for each session. I trust you will be quick on the uptake even if we do not let you know ahead of time.”

Example. So THAT was what Yanase-senpai meant earier about giving the other members a chance to have some fun. They were letting them come in each session so they could do their job and also mess with me. I should’ve expected that. Rather than ‘lead’, they were going to be using the health committee representative (me) to set a precedent for the others. 

That being the case, that meant I’d definitely be at the mercy of whoever was in charge of explaining each session. Senpai was throwing a heavy job on me… well, rather than job, she was just warning me that they’d be using me in each session and to brace myself.

I sighed. There was no arguing against someone as mighty as our de facto committee head after all, especially when she was over 300 m tall. She wasn’t even going to hear me even if I refused or made a ruckus down by her feet.

Senpai was incredibly observant despite my bug-like stature. She bent down again to speak to me. She had gotten even closer to me when she bent down so my vision was again filled with the sight of her black panties that were as big as a circus tent. 

“It seems you accept. Well, I suppose it would be impossible for you to refuse after all,” she stifled her laughter with her mouth. “My apologies, Kirishima-kun. If you believe I am treating you harshly because you have shrunk down, I assure you I would treat you the same even if you were normal size.”

Whether or not that was a good thing, I wasn’t sure. Senpai was Senpai, though. She was fair and reasonable. I couldn’t say I hated that side of her. 

Now that her explanation was done, Senpai was prepared to leave. I didn’t have to duck as her foot rose dozens of meters above me, keeping me under the shadow of her soles for just an instant before she walked towards the door.

Before she left, however, she turned to Yae and then bowed. “Well then, we will meet later, Yae-chan. You should head to your seat and take a look at what Takahashi-san gave you thoroughly. Please do read the instructions on that paper carefully.”

“Yes. Thank you, Kamiya-senpai.”

With that, Senpai went out to help Sensei and the other health committee members who had arrived. I spotted two sophomore girls and Yanase-senpai. Takahashi was told to help too which she did reluctantly. I was left on the floor while Yae walked to her seat to sit down. She waved at me on the floor as she took her phone out because she was now allowed to use it to keep an eye on me. She then started reading the paper Takahashi gave her.

Looking at the entire room from a perspective of 1.10 cm tall, I frowned at how even more distant everything was since the day before. The other boys were slowly trickling in as the health committee member finished measuring them and instructed them. I was going to have to speak to them to figure things out soon.

“Well, for the start of the day, this isn’t too bad yet at least.”

Before the first session, it was necessary to get a grip on my surroundings. When class had yet to start I found that this was precisely the time to adjust as best as I could and get my current perspective straight. Despite having been in the same classroom all year and despite having wandered the floor while shrunken previously, being 1.01 cm was a lot smaller than the 8 cm height I had yesterday morning - eight times smaller in fact. I was down to my last centimeter.

If I had to describe the layout of the classroom now, it was like a city. The 5 cm wide walkways Okazaki had marked out were wide sidewalks that wrapped around each table and chair. Each student’s desk could be considered a skyscraper that took up an entire city block and the gaps between each desk were larger than the Shibuya Crossing. It actually took a few minutes to go from Honda’s desk near the entrance to Yae’s desk by the window because of how far the distances were to us now. It was hard to believe that this used to be the same classroom we had spent months in.

That opinion was shared by all of us. I met up with a number of the other guys when they were slowly released into the classroom by the health committee members. I watched as Kamiya-senpai lowered them down to the floor gently and waved at them. She pointed them in my direction while I was walking through Takahashi’s desk as she knew exactly where I was thanks to the Tracer Belt.

Of all of the health committee members, Senpai was definitely the best at handling the Reduced boys. She was slow and steady, like an efficient elevator. That was definitely in contrast to the other girls. Though I couldn’t distinguish the guys from how far away I was, I could at least make a few things out.

Okazaki was too fast and careless. The two boys nearly fell off her platform of a hand when she kneeled down. Takahashi was too uncaring. She held somebody tightly in her fist before putting him onto the floor. Whoever it was seemed to be dazed after being released. As for Morino and Akagi, they weren’t bad but they weren’t good either. Simply put, they were too talkative to one another. They shared a conversation about ‘seven mysteries’ while bringing guys down to the floor. They didn’t even seem to be looking at them. Without paying attention, they nearly stepped on one of the boys they put on the floor. Saeki was fine, but the shy first year was trembling a bit too much from nervousness, something us boys would have felt as a powerful quake.

Well, the health committee members, at the very least, were following Sasakura-sensei’s instructions. There weren’t many instructions given to our actual classmates unfortunately. That meant every female classmate of ours just did what came natural to them when they came in.

“Kyaaaaa! No way! No way! No way! No way!” Shima’s scream echoed through the classroom when she entered. Seeing a bunch of bug sized boys on the floor did not bode well for her fears of mice and bugs. She lifted up her leg ready to stomp on somebody who I later learned was actually Eguchi before Yamaguchi stopped her and pulled her back out into the halls.

“I think my life flashed before my eyes when she lifted those pink soles. They were the size of a bus yesterday, but I can’t even begin to think what would’ve happened if she went through with it today. I know what they told us yesterday night, but after this I think I know how you felt yesterday, Touya-kun,” Eguchi told me while trying to cope with the fact that one of his admirers nearly crushed him. His heart was still pounding.

“You would’ve lived. Even without the soles,” I had some experience so I was a bit jaded (read: dead inside) by now. The fact that Eguchi had gotten lucky and avoided getting stomped made me a little jealous. “You’re lucky you didn’t get hurt. It’s seriously painful.”

“I would assume it would… By the way, Touya-kun, what is up with that belt? Are you going to transform sometime soon?”

“No. It’s got a tracking device on it. Sensei said I needed to keep it on. That way Yae can find me.”

“... It’s only Yae-chan, right? I’d rather not be found so easily by the other girls.”

“... You do like those girls, right? And no, the rest of the health committee seems to be able to too.”

Shima was only one case of how the girls reacted. Our class representative, Yoshikawa also gave us another close call. Though she was attempting to be cautious heading inside, looking left and right as she scanned the floor before she stepped. She took a close look at the lines drawn on the floor and followed the paths properly.

The problem, however, came from the fact that she was paying too much attention to the floor.

“Yo, class rep! Hurry it up!” the playful fox Tsujimoto slapped her in the back with a grin to speed her up.

“Eek!”

“Whoa!” “Wah!”

Stomp!

Nakano and Ryou were both nearly crushed when the class rep nearly fell over. It was like watching a truck crash with how quickly it happened. Her foot stomped in front of them and slid across the floor. If they were just a few centimeters further, they would’ve been slammed into the ground by her slipper. They got off with being blown by the wind force a few centimeters aside.

“Tsujimoto-san doesn’t ever change, does she?” Nakano frowned.

“She definitely ended up doin’ that on purpose ta’ her and us,” Ryou groaned. “I’ll be gettin’ her back for this next week.”

The circle of guys who crowded underneath my desk grew as they sought safety from the towering women around us.

Ryou’s buddies fell victim to Nomiya who tried to bend down to ask Arai for a photo but fell on her butt. They were just released by Takahashi right behind her and ended up stuck to Nomiya’s butt and her panties. I could barely make out their bodies plastered on the titanic tan gyaru’s rear end when she stood back up. I saw them falling off the back of her butt and panties when she brushed them off. They fell the entire distance onto the floor and had to be picked up and returned to Sasakura-sensei to be checked on. They came back later when Takahashi brought them to me with an apology.

“Yeah… Sorry, fellas. That was my bad. Kirishima-kun, you take care of them, alright?” she told me before walking away.

Take care of them… The entire experience left them stunned at the fact that they were both alive and by the fact that they had been squashed beneath a girl’s butt.

“Heavy doesn’t even cover it. How are we still alive?”

“We weren’t even playing Chicken that time and she ended up smothering us under that ass.”

“So what color were they?” Aikawa dared to ask.

“Pink,” the two of them answered. Despite being hurt, they were true to their instincts as men.

Nomiya was a small girl normally, much like Yae, but she was fit and athletic. I was told most of her weight was muscle. I was willing to bet it was very much a meteor impact to them. To be stuck between that gyaru’s tanned behind must have been an experience. 

Speaking of the gyarus, Arai did not join us because he had been snatched up by Watanabe. Her girlfriend waited for him to be measured by Kamiya-senpai and asked if she could see him. Senpai and Sasakura-sensei allowed it so he was being pampered by his giant girlfriend on her desk. I couldn’t see exactly what was going on, but there was kissing involved. It made me recall my own experience with Yae and made me a little jealous. I would have liked to get a kiss from Yae again now that I was even smaller…

The fact that all of the boys were crowding together in one place was a method of staying safe, but it also made us the first target if they girls needed to find one of us. Unfortunately, our popular boy could not avoid his admirers forever. And that meant trouble for all of us.

Stomp. Stomp.

Screeeeech!

“There we go,” we were assaulted by a deafening noise like nails on a chalkboard when Yukimura pushed my table slightly to get us out of its shadow. 

“Shizuku-san… what are you doing?” I heard Yae’s concerned voice ask while the rest of us boys tried to move back under the shadow of the table. Yukimura pushed it far, maybe 40 cm into the aisle, but it was still several dozen meters to us. “You aren’t supposed to move the tables.”

“I wanted to take Eguchi-kun…,” the girl honestly answered with no change in her expression. She faced Yae and, without turning her head, started to remove her indoor slippers out of habit. We watched as she used two fingers, one for each school building sized slipper, to lift them up off the floor. She let them dangle in her hand precariously. “Sensei said to get him so Airi can calm down...”

“Is that so? Well okay then,” Yae didn’t argue when Sensei was mentioned. Eguchi and the rest of us would have preferred if she did, though, especially when Yukimura turned back and saw we had moved under the table she had pushed away again. She frowned and, with her hand on the desk, pulled it back to where it was supposed to be. We were, once again, exposed. Only now, we were out in the middle of the aisle. There was no time to move as Yukimura stepped around my school chair and her bare feet landed in front of us.

“There’s the trauma…,” my head started to ache. I was going to need to take Ayame-san’s offer for therapy that she mentioned this morning.

“... Eguchi-kun, let’s go…,” she stated, looking down at all of us. She couldn’t tell which one of us with Eguchi so she squinted her eyes while still maintaining that same blank expression of hers.

Honestly, our attention was less focused on how she was looking at us and more focused on the immediate threat of her bare feet. In terms of fight or flight, a number of us guys opted for fight. We tried shouting at Yukimura, but she remained unfazed because she never heard out miniscule squeaks. 

I personally was frozen in place. I found my sense of reason vanished at the sight of the underside of Yukimura's toes. I could handle shoes, but feet were starting to be out of the question for me. When some of my reasoning returned to me, I wanted to alert Yae to get help, but she was simply staring at our tiny mob on the floor without distinguishing what each of us were doing. I could see she was concerned, but she was not going to be getting involved if Sensei had already given her permission. 

Lastly were those of us opting for flight. A number of us scattered, but in terms of distance covered, it would take at least 20 seconds for us to get a single step away from Yukimura.

She didn’t give us the time. She knelt down and quickly and uncaringly dropped each of her indoor shoes - behind us. One landed on its side, showing us an entrance to a cave none of us wanted to enter. Because of how humid it got whenever Yukimura kept her feet inside and how the sweat from her feet directly got sucked into her shoe since she didn’t wear socks, a foul sour odor poured out, causing us to reel away. The muggy fog felt toxic to most of us, but to my surprise, I didn't have as adverse a reaction like the queasy guys. Was it just because I was starting to get used to the smell of feet? If so, that made me question how adaptable my body was getting.

As for Yukimura’s other shoe, it landed on its other side so that we could see the pink Safety Sole. The pink wall also cut off our path, but we also noticed something else - an indentation of another boy’s body. Someone had already been stepped on accidentally by Yukimura that morning.

Yukimura had placed her shoes 90 degrees apart and, with her feet, surrounded us in a square. We were trapped by building sized feet and shoes, completely blocked off thanks to her efforts to prevent Eguchi from escaping.

Yukimura then started to tap her toes on the floor and placed one hand on her chin. “Hm… Which one of you is Eguchi-kun…? He’s always with Kirishima-kun...”

Escaping was no longer possible, and Yukimura was now surveying all of us carefully for Eguchi who was right behind me also cautiously looking at Yukimura’s house sized toes rising and falling in front of us. Though they weren’t too close, we could feel the solid impacts vibrate through the floor. I still had to ask why she disliked shoes and socks. The lint from the inside of her slipper clung to her foot but blew off when her toes slammed into the floor. A baseball sized one flew over to us and landed in front of me. Even with the Sensory Mitigation Spray, I could smell the scent of Yukimura’s foot emanating from the lint ball.

“Sorry, Touya-kun,” the popular boy apologized. “Shizuku-chan and others are always causing trouble, aren’t they? And as much as I’d love to help Airi, I’d rather not today, you know?”

“I know. Yukimura just doesn’t have any common sense,” I frowned. “Don’t worry. I won’t sell you out. We’re friends.”

“Touya-kun!” Eguchi was grateful. What he didn’t realize was I was just putting on a brave face. It wasn’t that I wasn’t going to sell him out. It was that my body didn’t move. 

“Well, I don’t think we have any choice, though,” I frowned.

“Huh? Uwah!” “Oof!”

“Found you...”

I was right. Unfortunately, even I didn’t have any power against Yukimura’s fingers. She knocked me away from Eguchi with just a gentle touch. Her long nails separated me and Eguchi like a wall. She then used her thumb and forefinger to completely smother him, plucking him off the ground. She was not gentle. She stood back up rapidly and then stepped over us, turning around to pick up her shoes that she had used to block me.

There went Eguchi. I couldn’t protect him. I could see Yukimura holding Eguchi in the same way she held her shoes. While her shoes were held by her pinky and ring finger, Eguchi was still pinched between her thumb and forefinger while she walked barefoot out of the room. I grimaced when I saw her let go of him. My friend was dropped into Yukimura’s dirty shoes. Us guys offered him our condolences as he was going to have to endure it. I offered the largest prayer. He’d need it. In terms of foot care… to compare Yae to Yukimura… Yae was definitely the cleaner of the two.

We returned back under my table to rest afterwards, especially when Hozuki walked by to get to her seat right behind mine. She was unconcerned about looking on the floor so she nearly stepped on half of us. Staying in the aisles was not going to be safe and we wanted to move in a group to be easier to notice on the floor. Getting used to being less than a centimeter tall was going to be difficult. We could only hope the sessions we were going to have during the day were going to make things better. Until then, however, we were going to have to endure.

After that, homeroom began and the girls were all made to go to their seats. We boys remained huddled up like a group of ants while the giant women around us shook our world as they settled in.

(42) Day 5 Session 1: Navigation (1.01 cm > 0.94 cm)

Homeroom was always brief. This time, the Health Committee stayed so they could inform the girls about the changed schedule for the day and how they would be coming in and out. They didn’t tell us what was happening in each schedule, but did they tell us what were the subjects that we were going through today thanks to the changed schedule. We boys had to wait until homeroom ended to be told what was our first session though. 

By that time, I had gone under 1 cm in height, standing now at 0.94 cm. It was clear by the fact that I was just under the height of Takahashi’s pink Safety Sole how small I was.

Yawn.

“Ok. So I guess I’ll begin,” Takahashi was the health committee member in charge of letting us boys know what the first session would entail before class began. After homeroom ended, Takahashi had us all gather under my desk because most of us were already there. She then got out of her chair and kneeled down so she could see us. “Guys, since you’re already on the floor, we’re supposed to start off with this one.”

Session 1 was called Navigation.

“In the first two sessions today you’ll all be practicing different things that might show up in an office with Reduction equipment,” she explained. “You guys better be ready for some moving around because you’re going to be given a job low level company workers and interns usually do.”

Navigation at least explained why Okazaki had been in charge of putting random boxes on the floor. I saw a couple odd open-top boxes the size of S*kuma Dr*ps containers with stars, hearts, and other designs on them. When I wandered by them earlier, they had a hole in them along with dozens of loose papers that were smaller than confetti to the girls inside.

We weren’t going to be allowed to just rest in one area while we were on the floor today. We were actually being given a job to do. I understood what Ayame-san had mentioned to Yae and I this morning about office work now.

“Uwaaa!” I uttered as Takahashi lifted me up in one hand. In the other, I saw as I dangled upside down in the air, was one of the containers.

“Thanks for volunteering Kirishima-kun,” she smirked as she let me fall into the container. I didn’t even have a chance to scream before I hit the hard floor where the tiny scraps of papers were. “At some offices, Reduced workers have to deliver their work to a spot where they can then be changed back to normal. You guys will be doing something similar but changed up to fit our classroom.”

The details were simple. We would be practicing using the designated walkways while the girls were in class to go get the papers inside the boxes and bringing them to their designated location - containers with our names on them on the right side of the room along the wall. We weren’t allowed to grab more than we needed though because the containers had a detector to find out how many had been taken or put in. 

Takahashi told us some offices did this on the tables, but there were others that had their employees travel the floors like we would be doing. I questioned how efficient it was to make tiny employees walk such great distances to do a simple paper pushing job, but I left that thought unspoken. If we were getting a miniature career day while miniature, we were really making the most out of the Reduction program.

I didn’t appreciate Takahashi shaking the container, and thus me, around as she explained this to everyone while pointing around the room, but she was making sure she was enjoying my predicament as best as she could before the day ended. This was probably because the other girls would be taking her place in the later sessions. 

I nearly fell out of the hole designed to be the entrance for us boys and had to hold onto the edge as tightly as I could lest I be flung out. It was only when the basic explanation ended that Takahashi put me down under my desk again. I stumbled out dazed, as though I had gone through a shoddy amusement park ride.

The explanation wasn’t over, though.There was one last thing Takahashi wanted to add before she left us to work. “Oh, right. I should probably mention this. You boys have to hit your quota for the period. If you don’t, the health committee girls get to have a little bit of fun for a quick penalty game. Can’t have you slacking off after all.”

A chill ran up our spines as soon as we saw Takahashi’s smile. I saw her take out a popsicle stick in and kiss it. It seemed she had taken part in drawing lots for what kind of penalty it would be. I was fairly certain a penalty game wasn’t something the government could suggest, but Sasakura-sensei probably allowed it after the committee girls brought it up.

“And Kirishima-kun, I hate to say it, but you’ve got some bad luck. I’ve got to say, even I didn’t know just how much the other girls on the committee like you. You’re going to make Asano jealous,” Takahashi laughed as she fixed her half-lidded gaze on me.

She then slipped a sheet of paper on the floor and made sure it was held down by the box I was in earlier. It had a list of our names and what each of us was supposed to do. We got to reading it immediately after Takahashi stood up and returned to her seat, leaving us to work while the girls began their class.

I frowned when I saw the requirements for each of us - in particular, my own. I understood what Takahashi meant now.

“Wow. This is just bullying, isn’t it?” Nakano asked.

“Don’t worry, Asano. We’ve got your back on this one,” Aikawa gave me a thumbs up and a pat on the back. 

Compared to the other boys who had to go gather from three different patterned boxes each, my name asked for items from all 7 different boxes. I wondered who was the one who made the document, but I had a suspicion it was a collaboration between all of the committee girls. Kamiya-senpai and Yanase-senpai had warned me that the other girls wanted to join in with Reduction Week after seeing all the fun Takahashi and Okazaki were having. 

It was clear that this was to give those girls a chance to be able to fool around with someone Reduced that wouldn’t hold it against them (too much). The other guys had easy enough tasks. Before things were tougher for me because I was also the health committee member they could ‘more acceptably’ toy with.

I considered filing a report on bullying to the student council but decided against it, though this was probably why the girls were able to get away with this without repercussions.

Nonetheless, we set off on our task. We were a fairly efficient gang thanks to Ryou’s leadership and smart guys like Nakano and Fujimoto. We counted up how many we needed total as a group and then opted to grab exactly that number from all 7 boxes before meeting back up by the designated drop points. We were to go in groups and each group would go to one of the boxes. The other guys each had our phones fully charged thanks to having stayed in a place fit for our size the night before (though I had forgotten about that myself so my phone was dead). We used the phones to take a photo of our plan and then split up into seven teams.

I grouped with Eguchi and Arai, the two who ended up being abducted by the girls before class started. Our destination was the box marked with teardrop which was placed underneath Watanabe's seat. It was a given that Arai would be assigned to his one located where his girlfriend was. Eguchi joined him because he was reluctant to go back to the snowflake marked box that was under Yukimura’s, and I joined because I was friends with Eguchi. We set off walking down the marked paths sharing our experiences and observing the girls above us.

This wasn’t a difficult duty at the very least. The girls were busy listening to the lesson so we could walk around their desks in relative peace. It was not a straight path to Watanabe, unfortunately. Starting from my desk, we had to pass by Hozuki’s table and then Satou right behind her before turning to pass through Nomiya’s desk to get to Watanabe’s. There were a few other paths we could have taken, but this was not only the quickest but also one that avoided Tokiwa.  

Tokiwa was still incredibly conscious over us boys and, now that we were the size of bugs, but upon seeing how small she was, she was worried over stepping on us now. Even with the Safety Soles, she started to get second thoughts over effectively crushing us with thousands of tons of force. I would have said that it was about time, but she still wanted to get us to keep away.

“Hey, just… get out of here quick…,” she whispered during class while Sensei was going through a handout. “Shoo. Shoo.”

I felt bad for Fujimoto’s group. They weren’t even that close to her because the walkways were around her desk, but Tokiwa really wanted them to move and used her foot to try leading them away from her table. They got caught and smacked by Tokiwa’s shoe. I saw someone get dragged under the Safety Sole while some else was smacked out into the middle of the aisle. There was no fighting Tokiwa as she slammed her building sized shoe down and started sliding it across the floor.

I would’ve liked to tell Tokiwa we weren’t able to see much at our heights anyways. Her seat itself was too high up for us to see anything other than its underside. 

We at least made it past Hozuki’s desk just fine. Her feet weren’t even on the floor as she was still using my empty chair as a footrest. She was boredly spinning her pencil while Sensei gave a handout to the girls for a warm up. She was clearly not paying attention or even bothering to work on it.

In any case, Hozuki didn’t pay us any mind. We treated her like part of the environment as we walked past. However, because she wasn’t paying attention to class, something unexpected that we should have expected occured.

Smack!

“Gyaa!”

“Hozuki! Eyes up front!”

Kamisaka-sensei threw a small piece of chalk and smacked Hozuki dead center in the forehead. Our first period teacher was quick to catch misbehavior and was quick to retaliate as well. ‘Alertness in the morning spells alertness in the afternoon,’ was her motto, not that any of us understood what she meant by that. Our English language teacher had a personality.

While I normally would have cheered for Hozuki getting caught not paying attention, Eguchi, Arai, and I ran for cover the moment Hozuki dropped her pencil. It fell onto the floor and rolled towards us. Like a scene from an American movie, we had to avoid the rolling object before it bulldozed us.

Thankfully, the pencil was stopped by the indentations of the wooden floor. We stayed alert as Hozuki rubbed her head and came to retrieve her pencil. She didn’t spot us but she was grumbling about how Takahashi didn’t get in trouble when she was sleeping. I shared her sympathies there, but all of our teachers had given up on Takahashi by this point.

We followed the path of the chalk walkway to the seat behind her: Satou’s.

Satou was among Eguchi’s four admirers. Thankfully, one of the normal ones. She and Yamaguchi were Shima and Yukimura’s minders - Shima for her clinginess and Yukimura for her strangeness. Satou did have her own quirks - one that Eguchi and I were aware of and one that everyone knew.

Boing!

“Fuuuue~ It’s no good. I can’t remember…,” cried Satou as she kicked her feet out. We flinched when the heels of her shoes landed onto the floor with a heavy impact on par with a plane crash. She was stuck on the warm up assignment that had been given to her.

For the first thing, Satou was helpless at keeping her grades up. She was always asking Eguchi and I for help to avoid taking supplementary lessons since we often held study groups together. Without Eguchi around for the week though, she couldn’t work up the motivation to study. 

Boing! Boing!

“Eguchi-kun’s somewhere on the floor right now… Airi-chan was lucky getting to see him earlier… I wanted to see him too...” Satou pouted, slamming her head onto the table. Her chest bounced off the edge of the table and began shaking like jello.

The second thing was the one everyone knew. The sound we could hear from the floor of her large breasts bouncing were impossible to hide. In front of both Tokiwa and Honda in the list of most endowed girls in our class, Satou was definitely the biggest. They had their own presence in their own right. We could feel the shift in the air as they swayed above us while we walked by her desk.

“How did you ever manage to hook a catch like her anyways, Eguchi?” Arai asked while looking up at the attractive sight above us as Eguchi tried to rush us past Satou’s desk for her sake. Though Arai and I both were spoken for, even we couldn’t fight the gravitational pull of Satou’s bosom. Even Yae couldn’t compare, and at this size, they were meteorites just hanging precariously above us.

“You mean get to know her? Touya-kun, you should remember the study group, right?”

“You say that, but didn’t Satou know you before that?” I turned my head back in Yae’s direction just to check if she was looking my way before I glanced up at Satou.

“That was still the first time we talked though. All I did before that was bump into her in the hallway. I ended up making her drop her books and had to pick it up.”

Raising flags so easily. That was our pretty boy for you. I bet just by seeing his face, Satou fell for him and then wanted to get to know him.

“For some reason, I’m jealous. It took me months to hook up with Shino and he gets gals’ attentions just five seconds after meeting them,” Arai frowned.

I agreed. “Me too. It took years for Yae and me to get to the point we’re at. Sure, it’s my fault we’re going so slow now, but to begin with, I was the one who had to drop all the hints to get her to realize...”

“Eh? Hiroshi-kun, Touya-kun, why does it seem like you’re so distant all of a sudden?” Eguchi was surprised by our camaraderie. “Actually, Touya-kun, you shouldn’t you be on my side?”

Eguchi’s worry over Arai’s and my sudden jealousy over him was unfortunately (for us) covered up when Sensei called for an end to the girls’ morning pop quiz.

“Alright. Time’s up. We’re not passing up those things today. Sasakura-sensei said to leave all of your papers below your table today,” Kamisaka-sensei announced.

“Uueeh? I wasn’t finished though…,” a downtrodden Satou frowned as she reluctantly as she was told.

“Whoa!” the three of us were nearly blown away by the sudden burst of wind as Satou bent over to place her paper beneath the table. We held on tight but were then caught off guard when a humongous mass swung over our heads. Satou’s left breast narrowly missed scrapping over the floor where we were standing. That wasn’t to say that we weren’t affected by it; another gust of wind was caused by the swaying of Satou’s breast and this was strong enough to blow our centimeter tall bodies out into the aisle.

“Ouch,” I mumbled as I picked myself up.

Pffft!

A failed attempt at holding in laughter entered my ears. I turned around and looked up and up to see a camera pointed at us.

“Wow. I totes missed the chance for the perfect picture,” chuckled the giant gyaru who was trying to hide her phone by half sitting on it and leaving the other half exposed.

Nomiya had seen us. She was using the zoom function to be able to see any passers-by on the floor while class was going on. I was glad she wasn’t able to take a photo because any evidence of us getting blown away by Satou’s breast would have been embarrassing for both us and Satou.

In any case, we ran out of the aisle and back onto the walkway. We were about to continue moving but suddenly, a tan leg with loose white socks blocked our path. Nomiya stopped us with her foot.

“Hang on,” she whispered, “Can I get a few pics? This angle’s mega rare.”

“Photos? You guys mind?” Arai asked. “I’m pretty sure Minami will just let us go if we say no so don’t worry about it.”

“I guess I’d be fine if it’s nothing embarrassing. I’d like to ask her for the photos when we get back to normal too,” Eguchi gave his thoughts. 

“If she’s asking nicely, why not?” I was against blackmail but a normal group photo was fine. I agreed with Eguchi that I wanted to get some copies of whatever she took as well. It had slipped my mind to take photos until today. Sasakura-sensei would be happy to get them too so I considered suggesting that to Nomiya and let her get some publicity as a photographer.

After Arai made a big circle with his arms to confirm with Nomiya that we were fine, I saw the tan gyaru’s eyes light up. Nomiya really was a photo-taking fanatic. Well, that was fine. This wasn’t anything dangerous. We ended up posing like idiots for her while she took snapshots of our ant-sized bodies from above. I doubted any attempt at looking cool would work unless Nomiya could work some editing magic.

Of course, when there was a distraction in class, there would be a punishment. Nomiya unfortunately couldn’t continue any further because, much like Hozuki, she was caught by Sensei.

“Uwaah! My head!” Nomiya rubbed her forehead when she was hit by another one of Kamisaka-sensei’s chalk snipes. Sensei could easily pull off consistent headshots.

“Nomiya, put that phone away before I confiscate it. And you’re reading the next bit as punishment.”

“Eh? Fine… Yes, Sensei,” Nomiya frowned and pushed the chair back so she could stand up and read aloud the passage Sensei ordered her to read.

We took that as our cue to leave now that Nomiya had gotten out of our way to pass on through. We evaded her feet as she stood up and went around to the front side of her table where the chalk walkway was.

Finally, we made it to our actual target: Shino Watanabe’s table. Watanabe was actively taking notes while reading the passage from the textbook that Sensei was focused on. We could hear her fervently writing as we got to her desk. She was also tapping her foot as she worked, shaking the ground. We were starting to get used to the quakes of this magnitude but any stronger and we’d actually be knocked around. For that reason, we were careful.

Well, Eguchi and I were.

“Gyahaha. As a beauty as ever. That’s my girl!” Arai boasted, his ears red as the blood rushed to his head. I would have thought the blood would flow the other way, but he was very enthusiastic over his girlfriend.

I couldn’t fault him. Watanabe really prided herself in her appearance so she sure was a looker. Her consistent dieting made her slim to the point of looking like a model. The public morals committee were always trying to get her to stop shortening her skirt because of how indecent it was getting but she persisted long enough, those guys gave up. I wasn’t fond of the amount of make up she put on, but the long eye-lashes and colored contacts did suit her.

We couldn’t see much of her face anyways from our view down by her feet. All we could see were the long legs she had on display. I understood the description ‘going on for days’ with how they looked from our perspective. Our attention was pulled upwards when one of her towering peach legs rose up as she crossed them, her right leg over her left. While I would have admitted I was interested in taking a longer look, I spotted an indentation at the bottom of her sole that remained since homeroom. Someone else had been stomped earlier. I wondered who it was.

“You gonna take a picture for future use, Arai?” I asked, deciding to get a move on because we had taken a large portion of the period getting to Watanabe’s table.

“I’m tempted, but Shino would be pissed if she found out…,” Arai struggled with his inner demons.

Click.

They won, though I said nothing and continued with Eguchi to the teardrop marked container that was beneath Watanabe’s chair.  We walked through the entrance to obtain our spoils. We grabbed precisely the right amount, staying alert because each time we picked up a small scrap of paper, we heard a beeping sound. Whatever sensors were being used, they were incredibly accurate. I thought about this the night before with the ascender, but the government really was hoarding all of the amazing technology.

“Alright. We should be good here. Shall we meet up with the others?” Eguchi asked as we walked out of the container.

“Sounds about goo...” I started but drifted off as I felt a gaze from behind us. Turning around, I saw Watanabe’s upside-down face. She was bending down to place another one of Sensei’s handouts onto the floor when she saw us.

“Arai, your girlfriend’s here,” I smirked.

“Wonder if she recognizes us,” Eguchi pondered.

Arai didn’t seem to worry and was waving proudly. “Yo, Shino!”

Though she didn’t hear, it seemed the gyaru recognized her boyfriend immediately. I saw her eyes brighten as she placed the worksheet on the ground. I watched her hand approach. Each manicured nail was as tall as we were and the bright pink designs painted on each one made them look like decorated art canvases.

Watanabe gently brushed against Arai for a moment, letting him hug the tip of her finger with his whole body, before she pulled her hand back and stood up straight again. We were knocked off balance because how fast she moved had shaken the chair, but it was understandable. She was trying not to be the third person hit by Kamisaka-sensei’s chalk throws.

“Contrary to her looks, Watanabe is a gentle soul. If it were Yae, she’d probably flick me,” I stated my observation out loud while we watched the lovestruck Arai recover. 

“Was she that rough on you yesterday?” Eguchi was curious.

“She was nice for the most part, but she messed around a lot and said she couldn’t resist,” I groaned as we started to head off for our final destination. “Well, at least I’m not you.”

Eguchi paled. “Please don’t remind me, Touya-kun. Airi’s affection is one thing, but Shizuku’s too extreme at this size...”

Since our goal had been met, we set our destination for the side of the room where the other containers were. Since the seats around Watanabe had nobody in them because they used to belong to the guys, we had an easier time. We waited until everyone else gathered and then split up the papers as was expected of us. Thankfully, everything went well with the plan. We even had an extra ten minutes of time to wait before the end of class.

It was unfortunate for Takahashi but fortunate for us when she went to check on us after class and saw that everyone met the quota.

“What? Seriously? I guess it was a bit too easy, but still, I was looking forward to the penalty game,” she frowned as she put all the building sized containers into a box.

“I’m surprised you remembered, Aoi-chan. You were sleeping most of the period anyways, I would’ve thought you’d have forgotten,” Yae remarked. The two girls were surrounding our crowd of guys from both sides. The only one who wasn’t in that group, unfortunately, was me. I was being held in Yae’s hand. In the middle of the floating platform the size of a stage, I was the target of Takahashi’s disappointment.

“Well, I avoided one penalty for today at least,” I told myself as I tried to get a glimpse of what was written on the popsicle stick Takahashi was still waving around.

“By the way, Aoi-chan, what was the penalty going to be anyways?” Yae asked for me as she was also curious.

I saw Takahashi smirk. “Are you trying to get some other ideas? You still haven’t told me about your night with Kirishima-kun.”

I grabbed tightly onto Yae’s hand as Yae predictably panicked thanks to getting flustered by Takahashi’s remark by clenching her fist. The world around me got dark for a brief moment as Yae stuttered. “N-No. I was just curious…”

“Well, I wouldn’t be able to hide it anyways,” Takahashi scratched the back of her head. “I pulled ‘Step on.’ I was so looking forward to it. I’ll bet Kirishima-kun has been lucky all week and avoided the one thing that just has to happen during Reduction Week.” 

Again, I held on tight as Yae trembled. I could feel the mountains that were her breasts swaying behind me as she rocked back and forth. She was fighting her habit to tell the truth. “W-Wow… Touya was sure lucky to avoid that…”

I never avoided it. I wanted to shout those words but I was too nervous to nor would I be heard anyways. I could feel the sweat drip down my neck. Though I had experienced it enough times by now, I did not want to have it done to me by Takahashi at all. My experiences had either been accidental (Yamaguchi and then Yae on her bed) or with reluctance (and with weight being buffered due to Yae’s worry). Takahashi probably wouldn’t hold back. I made a mental note to pay back all of the guys for not screwing up with the quota when we grew back.

With the first session over though, I realized there were still five to go. What other ideas had they come up with? I didn’t want to know, but I was bound to find out.

I wasn’t too well acquainted with the girl Takahashi was talking to. I believed her name was Saeki. She was a first year much like Okazaki. Unlike Okazaki, she was more of the shy type, even though she was talking to us shrunken boys.

“G-Good morning Senpais,” the giant bespectacled first year girl stuttered as she leaned down and put her hands on her knees. “I hope Takahashi-sensei wasn’t too mean.”

The guys collectively decided she hadn’t been but that it also because she didn’t succeed in getting a chance to. I was probably the odd man out in thinking otherwise but I had also been jostled around inside a giant metal box earlier. In any case, Saeki gave us the explanation for the second session in gentle whispers that would be quiet to normal people but properly audible to us.

Session 2 was called Paper Pushers. The next office job for us was literal paperwork. 

“It sounds a little boring, doesn’t it, Senpais?” Saeki smiled down at us while reading from a paper she had been given. “Um… This is the other job left for interns at companies. You can think of the rest of today as slowly moving up the company ladder.”

So on the plus side, the jobs would get less menial as the day went on. 

“Um… Filing is an important thing to do for organization. While it can definitely be done at a desk and at normal size, though, this type of filing is a bit different.”

It was clear that this was different. While I understood the need for organizing papers, this was office work for the sake of keeping interns busy. According to what Saeki read off, this paperwork would ‘immerse’ interns in their jobs so that by filing others’ papers, they could slowly get job experience. I had my own thoughts on what ‘immerse’ meant in this situation and how companies were actually treating their interns, but none of us guys were able to object when the 159 cm first year girl loomed over us and covered us in her shadow.

“The papers you will be organizing will be the assignments the girls did last class,” Saeki pointed us to the pile of papers on the floor underneath each girls’ table. So this was why the girls were instructed to put their papers on the floor last class as well as why Sensei never collected their tests and printouts. “Um… You will also be grading the pink paper for Kamisaka-sensei.”

Grading too? I wondered how we would do that, but Saeki answered our question by pulling something out of her pocket. It was a small SD card case, but inside was something even smaller. She opened it up carefully with her tree trunk fingers and placed it on the floor in the middle of us. We gathered around it like ants.

“Markers? Wow. Are really grading giant tests with something this small?” Aikawa asked, spinning the shrunken pen in his hand.

“These are Reduced Markers. The ink should be enough for one paper but please don’t waste it, Senpais” Saeki said from above, “Um… Sensei will be checking the grading later, so you don’t have to worry if you make too many mistakes. The key is actually written on the printout too, only it’s too small for the girls to see. Um… It will be on the bottom left corner of the sheet.”

That sounded like a clever use of fine print. I whistled, impressed.

“Um… everyone, will be assigned to a different table, so please do work hard,” Saeki finished reading off her paper and then took out her phone. “Now just to find Kirishima-senpai for an example...”

 I took that as the signal to step away from the guys as she was definitely searching for me. I made the right decision when Saeki’s hand cut me off from the others.

“There you are, Senpai.”

“Mpfh!” I found it impossible to breathe as Saeki pinched my body and raised it up to her face. I was able to see her enormous brown eyes which were now bigger than my body.

“Wow.... 0.85 cm… Senpai, it’s really hard to even recognize you like this,” Saeki brought me right up to her glasses. If I were just a centimeter closer, I would have been pressed against the glass. I could tell that Saeki was making the realization that she was holding an older boy between her fingers like a sunflower seed. She was moving my body up and down, left and right, and flipping me upside down with curiosity.

“Uwergh...” the blood rushing to my head and rushing away from my head repeatedly was making me dizzy.

It was like a primary schooler finding a shiny rock. Saeki was bright-eyed about getting to see me up close. I would have appreciated if she held me less tightly, but she was at least not squeezing the air out of my lungs. Saeki was curious but cautious.

“I can see why Nao-chan was so excited this week now,” my underclassman who was now over 200 times larger than me giggled as she brought me back down to the floor, or rather, a stack of handouts and papers. Beside me were two colored paper clips that were twice my size. “Um… Okay, Senpai, it’s time for you to show the others how it’s done.”

It didn’t seem so hard. The paper we were supposed to grade was on top so I could easily mark things, but I was more worried on the paper clips. They were like novelty giant props, but they had an amazing weight to them. Despite being normal paper clubs, I learned just how much weaker we had gotten while Reduced. The plastic paper clip was heavier than a steel girder. I couldn’t lift it up, but I could drag it. The guys saw how much I was struggling and I could hear their own worries, but Saeki seemed amused.

“A bit slow, aren’t you, Senpai? You’re usually faster than that,” my pride was insulted when she grabbed the other paperclip. Saeki was getting less nervous as she watched me struggle. She clipped the last three handouts together with ease. “But this is why we’re giving you the whole period.”

According to Saeki, our task was to use the red paperclip for the written assignment handouts and the blue paper clip for the multiple choice handouts. Each of us was going to be in charge of one girl’s pile so we were going to be working while beneath their desks.

Well, except for me again.

“Kirishima-senpai, you have double the quota,” Saeki smiled while also taking out the popsicle stick she had pulled for the penalty game. “Um… It’s been decided you will be organizing Takahashi-senpai’s and Asano-senpai’s papers. And if somebody doesn’t meet the quota, I get to give them a quick penalty game.” 

I grimaced at the knowledge that I would be getting a tougher quota to fill for all of the sessions, but tried to find solace in the fact that I was at least working with people I knew. Takahashi aside, being able to work under Yae’s table was at least going to be a blessing. Also, the task didn’t seem as though it would take too long, since I had gotten the paper clip from the middle of the pile to the edge in under five minutes, so it seemed like a fair task to have us guys do at our size. Saeki waved us farewell and let us get going to our destinations after leaving the room.

I was not going to have any help this time so I tried to hurry to do things as quickly as possible and avoid the punishment game Saeki was supposed to give. It seemed the health committee had randomized where each of the other guys were assigned to so I bid farewell to Eguchi who had to go to our class representative’s table and Arai who was assigned to Yamaguchi’s. Nakano had the luck of getting to work under Honda’s table, but I felt sorry for Ryou who was stuck under Tokiwa’s and Aikawa who was under Yukimura’s.

In any case, it took a few minutes to get to Takahashi’s desk. Class began as we boys started moving. I set off to work as quickly as I could to organize Takahashi’s papers. Though I would have preferred doing Yae’s first, her desk was closer and time was limited. I was thankful to see that Takahashi’s feet were flat on the floor and her head was flat on her desk too. There would be less of a chance for her to mess with me if she were asleep. It was a little bothersome to see her foot was stepping on the edge of the pile of papers though.

“Well, better get started,” I groaned and hopped onto the stack of papers that was ankle high to me. It was crazy to think just a few sheets of paper stacked on top of one another could actually have a noticeable thickness, but this was my current height. Each sheet of paper was as expansive as a field I could wander around on. “This’ll take a while.”

At the very least, the printed text on the handout was large enough to read without any trouble. I only needed the key to figure out how to grade it. Unfortunately, I realized, that was where my trouble started.

“That Takahashi…,” I grumbled, realizing her shoe was stepping on the edge where the key was supposed to be. Had she done so on purpose or was it just by pure coincidence from the constantly sleeping girl? If she was smiling in her sleep, I wanted to wipe that smile off her face because she was always causing me trouble. 

Pound! Pound! Pound!

“Hey, Takahashi! Move your foot!” I shouted while slamming my fist on Takahashi’s shoe. I hoped she’d hear my punches through the fabric of the shoe if I was persistent enough, but it was clear from my reddening hand that that wasn’t going to be effective. Much like my strength had left me so that I could hardly move a paper clip, I couldn’t make any dent or leave any noticeable impression by hitting the concrete wall that was the side of the indoor slipper.

“Having trouble down there? Hehe,” I heard a chuckle. For a moment, I thought it was Takahashi but the voice was from elsewhere. Looking up and in the distance, I saw Hozuki’s gaze fixed on me. I could see that she was ignoring and allowing Fujimoto to do as he pleased under her seat, but she was keeping her attention on me.

I tried standing indignant at Hozuki since she was clearly grinning like a cheshire cat, but she couldn’t see me clearly so it was all for naught. I didn’t really get along with Hozuki, but we at least tolerated each other. It was getting hard to do that when she was acting all high and mighty though. I blamed Reduction. The attitudes of the girls were getting too haughty.

To my surprise, though, Hozuki was being supportive despite her attitude. She showed me her fingers pulled back so as to flick something. The next thing I knew, something flew through the air and hit Takahashi.

“Ack!” I suddenly heard as the shoe right next to me suddenly jumped ten meters above my head and slammed down powerfully back by her chair. Takahashi jerked and shifted her feet so that she could turn her head around and glance back at who hit her.

“Sorry,” Hozuki giggled after having woken Takahashi up. Takahashi was probably glaring at her, but I honestly couldn’t picture her getting angry. An annoyed, tired stare was probably what she was giving Hozuki. She then glanced back down at me and mouthed something. I wagered a guess that she meant to say that I owed her. I did. Since it was physically impossible for me to move Takahashi, I needed some outside intervention, and Hozuki had provided it. I’d buy her something from the school canteen next week.

I pained me to have to thank her for this later because the smile on her face made it seem like she was holding something over me. Nonetheless, I was grateful to be able to actually accomplish my task now that I could read the key.  For now, my priority was grading Takahashi’s paper before grabbing the paper clips. The text really was tiny. The written words on the paper were like fine print to my 0.85 cm self so it would have been impossible for any of the girls to have been able to read it without a magnifying glass.

… Well, it turned out I really didn’t need the answer key because Takahashi got all of the problems correct anyways. How she managed that was always beyond me. I was going to give her full marks when I got up to the top of the page, but to save time, I started to lift and drag one of the paper clips up with me. I made two trips just to get all of the heavy lifting done first.

“Alright. That’s done. But now to figure out which paper’s which…,” I frowned, realizing it wasn’t as though I could pick the papers up to see what they said. This was heavily inefficient because something so simple was now impossible for me when the papers covered as much area as our gymnasium. I was quick to figure out what I had to do to determine this though.

To ‘immerse’ myself in the papers, I crawled between them. Despite the thinness of the paper, its weight was impressive for someone on my scale. It was like being under several heavy blankets. I trudged through until I saw some text. I noted that the paper was a multiple choice form and then crawled back out to repeat the process with the next sheet. The weight of the papers as I went further down, so it became more and more difficult as I progressed. This was more extreme than the military training obstacle courses I’d watched on TV programs. I could see why we would need an entire class period to grade just one stack of printouts. 

I was exhausted when I finally finished figuring out which of Takahashi’s papers were which. I strained my muscles to get the paper clips around the right forms, pulling and pushing them because I couldn’t move the papers whatsoever. It took a few minutes to make sure the paper clips were pushed into the right places to hold the right papers, but I was finally able to succeed.

“Great… Now for Yae’s…,” I wiped the sweat off my brow. This was more of a physical job than I had expected. If Reduction was a way to get more athletic folks an office job, it was a step in a strange direction. I wondered how the nerdier guys were faring but I checked the time on my phone. More than half the period had passed. I needed to get through Yae’s papers as quickly as I could or else I’d see what the punishment game was for not meeting the quota.

I moved from Takahashi’s seat to Yae’s as quickly as I could. 

“Well, would you look at this,” I stared in disbelief when I arrived at Yae’s desk.

The amount of handouts and assignments from the last class wasn’t many, but they were enough to make the papers reach my ankles. Yae’s stack reached my knee because of the extra papers she used for the written essay portions.

“Fufu~n,” I heard a giggle from above. I looked up and could see Yae glancing between her legs to see me climbing onto the pile of papers. I could tell she had written on more papers purposefully just to make it more difficult on me.

“She wants to give me a challenge, huh?” I laughed. I wouldn’t play along. I was smart to remember the order of the papers so this would be a much easier task since I didn’t have to crawl in between the papers anymore. If the written assignments were all of the extra sheets of lined paper, there wouldn’t be any trouble at all.

I did my job just like with Takahashi. I started with grading Yae’s form, snickering at the fact that she got three questions wrong due to a careless mistake. With the paperclips, I pushed and pulled them into their proper positions, trying to make sure they clipped the extra sheets Yae had also added in as well. 

“Phew...” I finished with five minutes remaining. That gave me time to catch my breath and relax. I sat in the corner of the top page. Reading the handouts, I saw that our teacher had continued going on with her lessons during the week. We were going to have to play catch up next week. 

Ping. Pong. Ping. Pong.

The end of class came. The girls were given a chance to relax as the time between classes was extended to give us boys a break and the health committee a chance to come in. Saeki came back and grabbed all of the forms as well as us boys. She pinched us off the papers and deposited us into a glass container with air holes on the lid. I realized it was a small insect carrying box.

Our enormous underclassman placed us atop of the front desk. She then quickly scanned through the papers we had properly clipped. I could see her frown at first but that frown quickly became as smile as she started looking through. I had a bad feeling about that.

“Okay, Senpais. I’ve checked the papers. It looks like three of you didn’t do the filing correctly.”

Sticking the wrong paper clip onto the wrong papers, failing to get the paper clip on altogether, and clipping too many papers onto the wrong paper clip - those were the mistakes that three of us boys made. The ones who messed up, it turned out, were Ryou, Nakano, and Yamabuki.

I expected Nakano and Yamabuki as the two weren’t very athletic to begin with so all of the extra labor must have been rough on them. But Ryou had gotten careless and was the one who used the wrong colored paper clips. I was grateful I had actually succeeded in my rough doubled quota despite all of the hassles, but I felt sorry for the guys.

Saeki dropped the container on its side and made the three of them walk out. She said that if it wasn’t them and we were lying, she’d be back later, so we all behaved. It was hard to argue with a girl who was hundreds of times our height.

“Sorry, Senpais. It looks like you didn’t meet the quota,” Saeki apologized and showed us the popsicle stick she had drawn. “Since you messed up, your penalty will be this.”

A forehead flick is what the popsicle stick said. Well, in our case, that would be a full body flick, but that seemed rather lenient. It was much better than being stepped on like what Takahashi had.

“Well, here we go,” giggled Saeki. “Sorry, Senpais. I’m just following orders.”

We watched as Saeki readied her fingers to flick. She held it in front of Ryou first.

“Damn, this is pretty intimidatin’,” I heard him say. I would bet. The little freshman girl’s fingertips were bigger than we were.

Flick!

“Grk! Gaaaaaaah! Oof!”  

Saeki released her index finger. It hit Ryou dead on. His body flew over our heads and he slammed back into the glass container. He was alright, but we could see he was in physical shock. Who wouldn’t after being shown the shounen manga treatment of being completely blown away in one strike?

Yamabuki was next. The nerdy guy was already frozen so he clearly wasn’t speaking as Saeki moved on to him, looking down with an ordinary smile on her face.

Flick!

“Gwah!” Yamabuki wailed as his body was sent flying back. Saeki angled her flick a bit less this time so instead of flying over us, he was sent into the crowd of us guys. Aikawa and I ‘caught’ him but were also knocked down by the sheer speed he was flying at us with.

“Ouch… You okay, Yamabuki? You can get off now...”

“I can see stars...” He wasn’t okay.

The last was Nakano. The fact that he hadn’t been able to get the second paper clip showed his own weakness. We could see his legs trembling as Saeki moved on to him. She had been frighteningly quick to go through all of them and she was clearly aiming for the container like it was a soccer goal. We readied ourselves to catch Nakano if we could now that we had seen what happened to Ryou and Yamabuki.

Flick!

“Whoops.”

“Waaaaaaaaaah!”

We couldn’t catch him. Saeki missed her shot at flicking and Nakano flew off the table. He landed on the floor. I didn’t want to think how bad of a drop it was but we couldn’t make it to the edge in time to see what was going on as Saeki walked around us to go pick him up.

“Sorry, Nakano-senpai. I missed,” she apologized but she couldn’t hide the smile on her face. She placed him back into our group and we came over to check up on him. He was definitely the worst off out of all of the guys.

“... I can see a river...”

“Nakano! Come back to us! Don’t cross that river!”

Our attempts at waking Nakano were interrupted when Saeki’s shadow fell over us. The bespectacled underclassman smiled after having done her job. She seemed satisfied with having given us some painful full-body forehead flicks.

“I’m surprised you made the quota, Kirishima-senpai. Nao-chan said I could go full power if you didn’t,” frowned Saeki. I froze up as she glanced at me. That wasn’t a full strength flick? It seemed more than enough for us. Saeki was more than disappointed despite having gotten to mess with three of us. “Senpais, it’s break time to give you some time to rest. I’ll leave you here for now, and your next sessions will not be on the floor anymore. Does everyone understand?”

We understood. We were somewhat thankful to no longer be on the floor.

“Okay. I’ll be leaving then,” Saeki waved at us but not before turning her attention to me. “Kirishima-senpai, you were lucky to meet the quota, but we’ll get you in the next one.”

A chill ran up my back. I was going to have to make the best out of the break to regain my energy.

(44) Day 5 Break Time Service (0.85 cm > 0.74 cm)

A break time between sessions was well deserved. We guys were given a fifteen minute breather after that workout. That gave us time to recover after all of the exhaustion and for the penalty game victims to come back to their senses.

Yamabuki was being cared for by Aikawa and Ryou had his buddies consoling him so the two were doing somewhat better. As for Nakano, to our surprise, Honda came to take him off her hands since she had heard and saw what had happened to him. She took his dazed self back to her seat hoping he would wake up. Eguchi and I knowingly exchanged glances but said nothing.

Hanging out on the teachers desk was not what all of us were going to be doing during the entire break, however.

“Hiroshi~! I saw the pictures!”

“Shino-non, slow down.”

The gyarus came first to get Arai. They got up very close to the table so that their bare legs were touching it. Arai seemed just fine if not a little excited at the sight of his girlfriend’s legs while Ryou’s buddies were still having some trauma when they saw Nomiya’s tanned butt above our heads.

In the end, Watanabe took the guy back to her desk. Even at this size, the two were lovebirds. I was impressed. Arai had been nervous at the start of the week but he was definitely enjoying being with Watanabe. Maybe he also should have gotten an exemption.

“Eguchi-kun, let’s play~!”

“Airi-chan, you seem to have gotten better.”

“Um… Can I join in too?”

“Fufu… Let’s go, Eguchi-kun.”

“Um… Touya’s over there so I think that would be Eguchi-kun.”

The four-pronged attack from Eguchi’s admirers was terrible for all of us but especially the man of the hour. Eguchi was being completely surrounded by his four admirers. They surrounded the table until they could find him. I couldn’t exactly protect him this time as Yae had been dragged along by Yukimura to find my location (and thus Eguchi because he was right next to me).

“Woah!”

“Well, this backfired,” I mumbled as Yamaguchi picked up Eguchi and held him in her palm. I saw her try to playfully pat him on the head but she ended up pushing him down due to how small he was. The remainder of his admirers also wanted to interact with him too so they settled down at Yamaguchi’s table.

“Sorry, Touya, and Eguchi-kun too, ” Yae apologized for having been used to locate me and Eguchi. The Tracer Belt was at fault, but it couldn’t have been helped.

I would have thought that I was going to be taken next, but before Yae could do so, we were interrupted by another person.

“Hey, is Ryou alright? I saw he got flicked earlier.”

To my surprise, it was Tsujimoto. We all backed away when she squinted down to look at us. It was a wonder how but she could recognize Ryou even without using her phone’s zoom function like Nomiya or asking Yae to locate me like Eguchi’s admirers did.

“Wow. Looks like she did a number on you,” she frowned. She then started to look around the crowd again. I shivered when her gaze focused on me. “Kirishima, you’re part of the health committee, right? Make sure he gets treatment.”

With those words, Tsujimoto walked away with her blazer swung over her shoulder.

“Hey, Ryou, does Tsujimoto like you?” I had to ask since I was now put in charge of his health by her decree.

“Who knows,” he chuckled. He wasn’t going to answer the question but he seemed happy. I was learning a bit more about my classmates thanks to Reduction Week.

“You should be alright but that must’ve hurt, right? Even Yamabuki’s still dazed.”

“Well, dontcha worry about me. Nakano took that blow like a man and is doin’ fine. I’ll live.”

Nakano was also being treated by Honda who was apparently holding him close to her mountainous chest from what I could see in the distance. Well, Ryou was tough so I accepted his decision.

Now it came to my turn. Yae had been waiting patiently to make sure I did what Tsujimoto asked but after I stepped away from him, her hand, or rather, her finger descended.

“Touya, are you good? I want to spend a bit of the break with you,” Yae was kind enough to ask instead of just plucking me away from the guys. I answered by approaching her finger.

It was clear that we had gotten smaller within the past two classes. At only 0.74 cm now, the thickness of Yae’s finger was as large as I was. I couldn’t just climb on easily. Instead, I stepped onto Yae’s nail and held on as best as I could as Yae raised her finger up to her face.

“Touya, you really are getting super small, aren’t you?”

Of course I was. I was now smaller than Yae’s eyes. Being right in front of one of them, I could see the reflection of my entire body in it. Yae’s eyelashes alone were over half my height. I couldn’t see all of Yae’s face at all while clinging to the tip of her finger. I was doing my best to not look down either as the drop was over 300 m to me. My eyes couldn’t maintain their focus on the floor.

“Oh right, I can’t hear you even if you talk… This is tough…,” Yae furrowed her eyebrows. I continued to hold on tight as Yae began to move back to her seat. When she arrived there, she lowered her finger to the desk so I could get off. I was on the corner of Yae’s table.

“Well… Isn’t this a sight...” I mumbled as I looked up.

The school desks were a bit lower than the teachers’ table in the front so I was actually given a more revealing view of the underside of Yae’s skirt. With the desk beneath the end of her skirt by about 10 cm, by looking forward, I could see Yae’s thighs and if I looked up, I could spot her panties. While I would admit to being enthusiastic at the sight, it really was unnerving to see the left and right sides of me flanked by Yae’s thighs. They were beyond the thickness of 1000 year old trees. Even lighthouse towers couldn’t compare to how big they were, and I was so close to them, if Yae took half a step forward, she could squish me between them. Though I knew I was physically durable and though my lower body told me it was a lovely way to go out, my sense of preservation made my legs tremble. 

“Looks like Kirishima-kun’s enjoying the view,” Takahashi slipped in beside Yae. She glanced down at me with a smirk and her usual half-lidded eyes. “Hey, I’ve got to give you credit for being able to finish both my and Asano’s piles. You’re more athletic than I expected, especially after the trick Asano pulled.”

“Aoi-chan, you were one who told me to do that,” Yae frowned, but she was the one who went along with it though so she was equally as guilty. “Still, even I was surprised. Maybe you can handle office jobs just fine, Touya.”

Though she was praising me, Yae’s giggle told me she was poking fun at me at the same time. Well, I appreciated the joke this time. I could definitely handle office work even at this size, though any more and I’d have to consider finding a different career.

“Still, this has gotten to be a really surreal last day, hasn’t it, Touya?” Yae asked. “I wasn’t expecting all of these sessions and then there’s the penalty games. Your committee is really out to get you.”

They certainly were. The other guys were just collateral damage. 

Yae knew she couldn’t hear my reply so she continued talking. “Touya, just what have you been up to in the health committee anyways? I’m a little worried by how playful all the other girls are with you.”

Jealous Yae was back. I could tell she was holding herself back from demanding answers, but she clearly wanted to know. She started nudging her body forward after she asked the question she knew I couldn’t respond to in this state.

“Yeah, let’s save that question for later, okay, Asano?”

“K-Kyaa! Aoi-chan! My skirt is-!”

And to my absolute bewilderment, shock, awe, and appreciation, Takahashi interrupted and stopped Yae from hitting the edge of the table with her hips when she grabbed her from behind and then raised her skirt. I found myself beneath the canopy of Yae’s navy blue uniform skirt and looking up at an enormous wall of fabric.

Much like Yae’s intricate bra this morning, her panties were part of a matching set. I wasn’t exactly able to see all of the details of Yae’s underwear when my attention was drawn by her more prominent breasts this morning but now I was able to take a good look at something equally as breathtaking. These weren’t her usual, ordinary undergarments. It was like looking up at an artistic monument of blue and black, a mural of woven fibers forming quilted royal blue squares each twice my size atop that mountainous cliff that was Yae’s crotch. 

“Well, isn’t this surreal,” I put my hand over my nose and mouth. Yae’s scent blew down towards me and wrapped around my body. I wouldn’t even notice if I were normal sized, but now it was overpowering. My body heated up from its warmth.

“Here’s a reward for you, Kirishima-kun. What do you think? I’ll bet Asano wasn’t willing to show you a view like this last night. Willing to forgive me for all the teasing this week?”

“Aoi-chan! Let go!”

I wasn’t going to forgive Takahashi for all the troubles I had this week, but I supposed I could be lenient on her when I got back to normal. She not only diffused Yae’s jealous questioning but also gave me a pleasant sight. For a short break, I was satisfied enough by this to forget about the pain in my muscles. I decided to pull out my phone and record the image for future reference before it was over. 

“Ah.”

“Kyaa!”

“Uh oh.”

Slaaaaaaaaam!

I probably shouldn’t have done that. My priority should have been moving to the inside of Yae’s desk as quickly as possible. Yae’s struggling to get Takahashi to let go and pull her skirt down ended when she knocked Takahashi’s hand off - the hand that was pulling Yae back. The moment that was gone, there was nothing stopping Yae’s momentum. 

The giant cliff of Yae’s crotch lurched forward. It had already filled my field of vision but now it assaulted all of my senses. I was engulfed by Yae’s crotch when she fell forward onto her desk.

“Mfff...”

I was getting smothered by things a lot today, and that wasn’t going to be changing anytime soon. Yae had fallen onto the desk. Her crotch landed on top of me, pressing me down completely under her mountainous weight. This wasn’t Yae’s full weight so it wasn’t as painful as being stepped on by Yae’s foot, but it was more suffocating. Yae’s panties were thicker than any heavy blanket. It wrapped around my body, pushing me into the wooden desk to the point where none of my body parts could budge. There was no chance of fighting back against Yae’s crotch. I didn’t even fill up one square of the quilted pattern on her panties. The heat emanating from Yae’s body poured directly into me along with the sweat that the woven fabric had absorbed. My uniform was soaking up Yae’s sweat and scent that had collected in her underwear, and my mouth, which had been open when Yae fell on top of me, was stuffed by the blue cloth. 

Suffocating wasn’t the only issue. Even when I had the chance to breathe, there was a problem. Though the smell from Yae’s private spot was far more appealing than the odor of her socks, my mind was growing numb from the overpowering feminine aroma encircling me. Each breath I took was dense and humid. If I wasn’t careful, my sense of reason would disappear. I could only wait until Yae picked herself up so that I would be freed.

“You okay, Asano?”

“Yeah… Ouch. What about Touya? Touya, are you okay?”

Yae got up, but I wasn’t released like I expected. Perhaps it was because of the pressure of being grinded against Yae’s crotch or perhaps it was because of the stickiness of the sweat or perhaps at my size, the gravity of Yae’s massive body was starting to affect me - whatever it was, when Yae picked herself off the table, I came with her.

“U-uwaaa!” 

It was telling how small I was compared to Yae now. I could cling to her panties and she probably wouldn’t even notice me. I was on just one of the patterned squares on the design of her (probably expensive) underwear. Looking down, I could see Yae’s legs extending downwards until my eyes became unable to maintain focus. Her feet and the floor were far below me. The blood drained from my face. If whatever was keeping me stuck to Yae’s underwear disappeared, I’d plummet to the floor. I went from wanting to get away from Yae’s undergarments to clinging onto them for dear life.

“Touya? Wha-? Aoi-chan, where’d Touya go?” I heard Yae’s flustered shouts. Her hips swung violently as she searched. I prayed my grip strength would be enough to keep me from flying off.

“You did just slam down onto the table. I don’t think he flew off. Y’think he’s on your panties?” Takahashi was right on the money.

“My pa- Kyaah! Aoi-chan!”

The lighting around me changed again as Takahashi lifted up Yae’s skirt without any hesitation. She was eyeing me with her usual half-lidded gaze. She didn’t look impressed, but I could see the slight curve in her mouth. She was amused. “Found him. Wow, he’s really hanging on there.”

“H-He really is?! T-Touya! That place is off limits!”

“Woah. Hold your horses, Asano. Stop moving. You’ll launch him out the window if you aren’t careful. I’ll get him off, so just calm down.”

I was thankful for Takahashi’s quick thinking and fingers. She stopped Yae from swinging her hands around and from flailing about in embarrassment before I could get thrown off or crushed. She then peeled me off Yae’s panties carefully and deposited me in the center of Yae’s table.

“Gah… That was close… I really owe Takahashi one there… Wait, she was the one who started this in the first place…,” I grumbled as I tried to regain my strength. I dropped onto my butt, my legs and arms unable to support me any more, and looked up to see my two female classmates looking down at me.

“Touya, you pervert…,” Yae was still flustered and embarrassed. I couldn’t help that situation but Yae still blamed me. 

“Damn… I guess I went a little too far…,” Takahashi at least admitted her fault after picking up the books that Yae knocked off of her table when she fell over it. Her voice cracked as she tried to break the silence. “This is some break, isn’t it, Kirishima-kun? You got a face-first experience with Asano’s privates. Isn’t that something?”

I glared up at Takahashi. She couldn’t clearly see it but she seemed to pick up on what my mood was.

“Aoi-chan...” Yae turned her attention to Takahashi to give her a glare as well.

“Aha… I guess you guys won’t be letting this go, will you?”

We weren’t. Takahashi was going to owe both of us.

I wasn’t able to rest my body during my break at first, but the last five minutes were at least calming enough for the adrenaline to leave me. Yae ended up forgiving me since I couldn’t really do anything on purpose at my current size. That left the blame on Takahashi. I spent the break watching Takahashi try to buy Yae’s forgiveness. I could see that Yae was thinking up a ‘simple’ punishment for Takahashi. It was a shame I couldn’t take part in the conversation, but seeing Takahashi panic when Yae said she’d save the punishment for next week did make me grin. Yae seemed to be disappointed she couldn’t relax with me much like Arai and Watanabe were or Nakano and Honda were.

The third session was going to begin soon so Yae had to bring me back to the front table, but after she did, I was surprised to see Takahashi get called over by the health committee. There was apparently an issue. That gave us a little extra time to rest up, well, everyone except me and Nakano. The curiosity of how Honda cared for Nakano and the surprise of seeing Yae fall onto me that the guys saw led to them questioning us.

Nakano being flustered and tongue tied saved him from answering but I was a bit too honest for my own good. We had a good chat before the health committee members returned. 

It was a surprise to see more than one health committee member besides Takahashi show up. After Takahashi who came back with a video cart and projector were Sasakura-sensei, Morino and Akagi. The two talkative friends from classes 2-B and 2-C were also rolling their own carts into the room while accompanied by our school nurse who had a stack of papers in her hands. 

Takahashi set up the cart and project in the middle of the room while the friendly pair of Morino and Akagi went behind the teacher’s table with the cart. To our amazement, one of the carts had a reduced classroom on it. Around the size of a dictionary, the classroom building had its roof removed, but that wasn’t all. With a tap of Akagi’s fingers, the walls were all knocked down as though they were made of cardboard. Such a demolition that would normally require a number of workers had been accomplished by the tip of one girl’s nail. Morino then placed a folded up piece of cardboard to act as a bridge with guardrails for us to cross from the table to the cart.

“Hey, boys. Your next two lessons will be on tables, so no more floor for you,” Morino smiled as she adjusted her black, spider-web patterned scrunchie pulling her brown hair back into a ponytail. “Touya-san, can you lead the guys over?”

“We brought a bunch of desks because now it’s time for the joint activities with the girls,” The cutesy Akagi added, giving us a wink. “I bet you didn’t see this coming, did you, Tou-san?”

Joint activities? I certainly didn’t. What kind of joint activities could we do when the difference in scale between the boys and girls was this massive? Nonetheless, I did as Morino requested and was the first to cross the cardboard bridge over to the cart. Akagi bent down to desk level to get a better look at us. It was a little unnerving to see a face wider than the chasm we were crossing. Her breaths, though unnoticeable to her, were actually strong enough to shake the bridge with a heavy gale. I wasn’t appreciative. I was even less appreciative when the guys started pestering me on the nickname Akagi used.

“Tou-san, she said… Wow, someone’s popular...”

I reserved the right to remain silent and only hoped Yae hadn’t heard. Fortunately, she hadn’t as Akagi had been whispering. Akagi was an energetic and bright-eyed girl who really knew how to overstep her boundaries, a cute-type who wore a cardigan with sleeves that were too long to the point where they went up to her fingers. She was very fond of nicknames. This was one of the reasons why I had been careful about my health committee affairs with Yae. Well, maybe calling them ‘affairs’ was pouring oil onto the fire.

I pushed my concerns to the back of my head as Sasakura-sensei started to speak to the class as to why she was present.

Cough.

“Ahem,” started our school nurse. “Well, normally, you girls would be taught by Yasuda-sensei right now, but she’s out sick. To be honest, that makes things a bit easier to manage for this program. Though I will need you girls to cooperate with me and arrange your seats properly in a bit.”

Our third session, according to the words Akagi wrote down on the backboard with her bubbly handwriting, was called Digital Reporting. She also added, in much smaller words, Tableside Teammates.

“For this session the boys and girls will be in groups assigned by us,” Morino explained the session to the entire class. “Instead of a math class, this’ll be a technology class. Sounds fun, doesn’t it, Kasumi-chan?”

“Yup. Yup, Fumika-chan,” nodded Akagi, “We’ve brought personal laptops provided by the program for everyone. Today, you’ll be watching a short video and then working together on a report about what you watched. Think of it as a long distance collaboration even though you’re in the same room.”

Working collaboratively on tiny computers that were going to be on the same network as the girls’ computers - this actually sounded more like an office job than the previous two had been. Apparently we guys had been promoted from interns to actual employees now.

Akagi giggled. “We got to pick the video on this since Yasuda-sensei would’ve picked a boring math related video.”

“Kasumi-chan’s the one who decided actually,” Morino shook her head with a smile on her face. “I’m sorry for her bad taste, but we’re watching a short compilation of ghost stories.”

The moment she said those words, she took out a flashlight and put it underneath her to illuminate her face creepily. It wasn’t exactly successful when the lights of the classroom were still on. Both of the health committee girls’ eyes brightened while the rest of us were left dumbfounded.

“Right, I forgot the two of them were also part of the occult club…,” Sasakura-sensei was also bugged by their choice of video. “Well, their choice is actually not on the restricted list, so I’ll allow it. Let me go over what the girls missed and then we can split up the groups.” 

“Oh, wait, Sensei. We should talk about the penalty game too,” Akagi spoke up to interrupt. I flinched at the mention of that. She was so blatantly open about it. Did that mean Sensei actually approved of it?

She did.

“Penalty? Oh right. We’ve got to keep everyone working diligently after all. I can’t believe I let you kiddos convince me to allow it,” Sasakura-sensei scratched the back of her head. “So? What did you girls pull out of the can this morning?”

“We got lucky. It’s something perfect for a group effort since we can have both the boys and girls do this,” Morino grinned.

Akagi revealed the popsicle stick to all. “We’ll be having every person who doesn’t meet their quota doing this.”

Something that would be a penalty for both the boys and the girls? I didn’t like the sound of that, but it at least seemed fair. Akagi erased the session title from the board and then wrote what the punishment was. At first, we were confused and then shocked and scared when we misunderstood, however, the accompanying picture she drew clarified plenty. I could hear the collective groans from both the guys and the girls when they saw what she wrote.

Upside down hanging. Those were the words that had been written down. As morbid as that sounded, the pictures Akagi drew with quick speed but astonishingly high detail showcased boys being held by their legs upside down by a giant hand and girls forced to handstand while desperately trying to keep their skirts on.

“S-Sensei, are you serious?” Tokiwa asked as she was the most flustered of this blatant sexual harassment. “Is this allowed?”

“Honestly? Probably not, but you’ve been displaying your undies to the boys all week. I don’t really see much of a difference now,” Sasakura-sensei shrugged. She was as blase about underwear as always. “If you don’t want them seen, just make sure you do the work.”

“You’ll be getting a grade from your group effort too. Even if you met the quota, if your group score is below 70%, we’ll be giving you all the penalty anyways,” Morino looked down at us and singled me out in particular, “Touya-san, we’re looking forward to giving those out.”

Now that the penalty had been made known, if we messed up, we weren’t only going to get the penalty game, we’d also get the ire of whoever we were grouped with. We could feel the enmity from the girls who were glaring in our direction. There was no way they would let us go if we didn’t do our share of the work and get the quality of the report to 70%, even if it was just an honest mistake. There would be double the punishment for messing up… they really were trying to hold us accountable. Moreover, according to Akagi, the health committee members who weren’t around this session were actually in the nurse’s office with their own computers checking on our work so we could get a grade immediately.

Well, this session at least didn’t require us to be moving around. In fact, we were required to stay seated in the reduced seats and use the laptops that had been provided for us. Each reduced computer and desk had our name on it so we sat in the appropriate one and turned on the laptop. We were surprised to find that they were able to connect to a network but it was apparently a private server just for the Reduction program. It was going to be a quick and easy time. Perhaps we were actually going to get a break after all.

“Oh. As expected,” I saw my group mates for the session. I was going to be working with Yae. I turned my head over to Yae who had also just logged onto her computer.

Ping!

[Hi Touya!] [We can talk to each other again!] [Are you getting these?]

I chuckled at the string of messages sent in the group conversation chat right off the bat. Yae was quick on the uptake to be able to communicate with me. I began typing things in as well.

[I can see them.] [By the way, we’re having a talk when I’m back to normal.] [Both you and me and me and Takahashi.]

A non-veiled warning was what I used as my greeting to the other group member I was friends with.

Takahashi entered the conversation quickly after.

[Give me a break.] [I said I was sorry.] [It was an accident.]

To be able to talk to the girls properly now was a welcome blessing. It seemed all of the guys agreed. Being able to converse with someone we physically couldn’t for some time - technology really was grand.

These were groups of four, though, and there was one last member in the group assigned by the health committee.

[Please don’t fool around, you three.] [I’d rather not get that penalty..]

Yoshikawa was also part of our team. When the girls were told to rearrange their seats into squares and sit next to each other, our class representative joined my friends. 

As it turned out, we boys weren’t going to be staying on the classroom cart, though. Akagi pushed the cart we were on towards the tables and picked us up, table and all, to place onto the other empty desk. It didn’t last too long though as the girls pulled us over to their tables to get a better look at us. I realized while looking into the distance where the other girls were that we were the only group with three girls and one boy. 

This was where my special quota came in apparently. “Tou-san, you’ll need to pull your weight here. The quota for the report is actually pretty simple to meet since it’s just the page count. For your group specifically, the girls will need to do 4 pages together, and you’ll be doing the same amount yourself. Think you can do it, Tou-san? It sounds unfair because it is. If anyone’s getting the penalty this session, it’ll be you.”

So she blatantly admitted it was unfair.

“Tou-san, huh?” I heard Yae mumble and she glanced down at me. Sweat trickled down my neck. Yae had paid special attention to Akagi’s nickname for me. It was painful feeling her heavy gaze on me from above. Rather than just a piercing gaze, it felt all-observing.

“Well, that lightens the load on us a lot,” Takahashi grinned.

“I feel bad about making Kirishima-kun do all the work, but if that to be the case…,” Yoshikawa felt guilty but also seemed pleased to have her load lessened. I hadn’t interacted with her too much, but her giggling was rather cute.

“You two...” Yae sighed at her teammates’ opinions. Her gaze relaxed, but she was still bothered by Akagi’s nickname for me. “Hey, Touya, what’s up with that nickname?”

I was not answering that. I was not typing that reply into the computer either. Yae huffed and pouted, pulling me and my reduced desk over to her table, but I still didn’t answer. Yoshikawa found it cute how a jealous Yae could be trying to pry information from me by pestering me, but from my perspective, Yae was lording her presence over me. According to the reading on the Tracer Belt, I was now 0.63 cm. At this height, Yae’s chest was massive to me. I was lost in its shadow as Yae used her tree-sized pencil to easily push my desk into it. I held on tight to the computer and the table as the few centimeters I was pushed around repeatedly were meters to me.

Yae continued to prod me with her pencil like I was a broken pencil lead while Sensei gave the class the full explanation of the report and the other boys’ and girls’ fair quota of two pages each. She advised the girls to place us boys at the front edge of the tables so we could see the projected video properly. Apparently, Morino and Akagi were staying during the session because they had to go around making sure we were all paying attention… and also to enjoy the video they picked.

“Kukuku… This one’s based on a true story… It’s actually just a few stations away the school too…,” Morino chuckled as she walked by to shake Takahashi awake. They weren’t letting her sleep.

The video seemed interesting enough. It highlighted urban legends, ghost stories, and old wives tales of our local prefecture, but it provided various reference sources and analyses. It was more scientific than I expected.

Takahashi was stiff and working hard. She couldn’t sleep because Morino was patrolling and continuously bumping into her to wake her up. She had apparently developed a poor relationship with Morino due to how she was always exhausted. I supposed it made sense. Like Akagi, Morino was a very spirited and diligent girl despite having such a strange, dark interest in the occult. She contrasted heavily with Takahashi.

Aside from her, Yae was being diligent. Ghost stories didn’t scare her, and she was very much like me. She seemed to be surprised at the science involved. The table shook as she typed a number of notes down for future reference while she watched. I still wasn’t free from her mercy though as she kept me and my table right next to her monument sized computer. Every now and then, she would stop typing and glance down at me. The next thing I knew, she’d use her pencil to poke me. The less than 1 mm tip of her mechanical pencil was still a large pole to me. She still was trying to pry about my relationship with Akagi.

Lastly was Yoshikawa. To my bewilderment, our class rep was the least productive out of all of us. She was closing her eyes with her hands while the video played. She was apparently very bad with anything horror related. She yipped when the narrator tried to be dramatic and she shivered as she listened to bloody retellings.

[Class Rep, calm down.]

She saw my message and whispered down at me. “I’m not good with these sorts of things, Kirishima-kun.”

I chuckled and continued to communicate with her. A frightened giant was a strange sight.

[I didn’t expect our class rep to be a coward.] [Even from down here, it’s cute to watch.] 

“K-Kirishima-kun, that’s rude…,” I caught the class rep off guard. She was caught off guard again by the lightning strike she saw on screen. “Kyaa!”

[Yup. Cute.] [You’re squirming a lot.] [Never thought the class rep had a weak point.]

“Grr… I didn’t think I’d be teased today… And by someone smaller than my pinky too...”

“Grk!”

Yoshikawa was not happy with my teasing. An eraser the size of a house descended on me. My entire desk and my body were pushed over when Yoshikawa tapped me with it. She then used it to pin me down. I could hear Yoshikawa giggling at being unable to fight her eraser that she left atop of me. I couldn’t budge it. I was buried underneath it completely.

“Oh my… I didn’t think this would be that enjoyable,” she remarked, much to my dismay.

“Class Rep... no flirting with Touya...” Yae glowered.

“A-ah. I’m so sorry. I couldn’t help myself, Asano-san,” Yoshikawa got her eraser off of me and pulled back from Yae’s protectiveness/jealousy.

“Wow, I wasn’t the one who got Asano jealous this time. Good job, Class Rep,” Takahashi grinned as I pulled my desk back up. The computer was surprisingly intact. 

“I know how you feel, Class Rep, but I’m Touya’s caretaker. You shouldn’t mess with him without my permission,” informed Yae.

“I’m sorry, Asano-san. Though does that mean you’d be fine if I asked first?”

“H-huh? Uh… W-well...”

“Permission? Hey, wait, Yae!” I nearly choked on my own saliva. I was being treated more as a pet than another student. I wanted to argue with the two giant girls above me, but because their laptops were still closed while the video was playing, typing was useless. Even if the laptops were on, however, I doubted they’d pay attention. I could see Yae was deliberating.

I couldn’t believe Yoshikawa had asked that question. Her good girl nature had made me think I only had to worry about Takahashi, but her eyes were curious after having hit me just once. Even our class representative couldn’t fight her desires apparently. 

Then Yae decided on my future sentence. “Mmm… Then maybe later… I’m a little mad Touya was being all flirty too...”

I shivered when Yae glanced at me. I forgot that even though I was able to talk to them again, I couldn’t ignore my current size. This was not a conservation between people on the same level. I was still below the girls. If I said something that offended them, they could do whatever they wanted to me. While Yae was protecting me as my ‘caretaker’, if she allowed it, they could do what they pleased.

Yae was being this permissive because I had called Yoshikawa cute. She could be the jealous type which is why Takahashi was careful around her. How the other health committee girls addressed me also probably affected her mood.

I sighed and got back to paying attention to the video. If I was going to have to do most of the work, I was going to need to get as much information as I could. 

When the video was over, Sensei started to detail what the contents of our in-class report was supposed to be and gave suggestions on how we could all split up the work. As she did, I tried to look over to the other groups. It was difficult because Yae’s body was blocking one direction and Yoshikawa’s was blocking another, but I was able to see two other groups. Hozuki and Tsujimoto were apparently together with two other guys. Whoever one of the guys was, I felt sorry for him because Hozuki was making him run away from her pencil as she chased him with it. I guessed that Ryou was also a part of the group though because Tsujimoto was apparently being gentle, if not staring somewhat distractedly.

Besides Hozuki and Tsujimoto’s group, I also saw Satou with Honda. The pair were apparently both as bad with horror as Yoshikawa had been if not worse. They had their hands over their ears and their faces were turned down to the table with closed eyes, trying to block out what they could hear and see. This had apparently been trouble for whoever they were sitting with because I could spy two tipped over desks beside the well-endowed duo’s breasts which were pressed into the table. I wondered if those guys considered that heaven or hell to be underneath all that pressure but also wondered if the girls realized if they didn’t do their fair share as well, they’d get the punishment.

In the end though, I had to prioritize my own work. Takahashi, Yae, and Yoshikawa were a very productive team. Yoshikawa’s organization, Yae’s diligent work, and Takahashi’s intelligence worked well together. I would have liked to call this a golden group to be working with, but their efficiency also worked to my disadvantage. Two problems came up.

“So 4 pages for us altogether and 4 for Touya, huh? That doesn’t seem too bad. We can probably do more than that too for our part.”

“We can probably bring it up to 6 pages for us with all the notes you and Kirishima-kun wrote down, Asano, but let’s just finish our part early and then take a break.”

“Sorry that I couldn’t help so much on the note-taking. I’ll make up for that by doubling my efforts.”

“You don’t need to be so serious, Class Rep. This’ll be easy to do.”

[Hey. At least help me out a little.]

“You have all the notes too, Kirishima-kun. Just refer to that,” Takahashi brushed aside my request. 

This was the first problem with having the quotas decided by page count. We weren’t so much working together in the sense of full collaboration since we each had to meet our own requirements. One person’s work did not affect another’s. While Takahashi, Yae, and Yoshikawa were hard workers, their efforts would not change my own. This created a divide between me and the girls that wasn’t just the size difference. I had to figure out a way to crank out 4 pages of this team report alone. I made a note to figure out a way to change this before the next class went through Reduction Week. 

While we were working, though, the second problem emerged.

Slam!

“Oof!”

“W-wow… I wasn’t even trying to knock him over this time. I just tapped him with my pen.”

“You haven’t had a chance to interact with the boys much until now, right, Class Rep? This is how Touya and the others are right now: super light. It’s surreal, right?”

“It sure is…” 

“Hm…? I think you two marked up his uniform.”

“A-Ah. Sorry, Kirishima-kun. I-I’ll wipe that off.”

“Wait stop! You’ll soak him if you use your water bottle.”

Yoshikawa had jabbed me with a pen after I finished my second page. It was more payback for the teasing earlier and was permitted by Yae, but seeing my shirt stained blue, she then tried to apologize and clean it up immediately. I was pinched off the table as our class representative tried to uncap her water bottle to wash me off. Yae thankfully stopped her before she could drown me in a heavy waterfall. 

[You’re almost got the computer wet.]

That was my only complaint since it had ended as quickly as it had started.

“I-I’ll ask Sensei for the cleaning balm later, Touya,” Yae sighed as the girls let me work again.

The second problem was that having the all-star students grouped together meant they would finish their portion early. That was why they had the opportunity to interrupt me. With their quotas finished, the girls were free to relax, and each of them had their own reasons to mess with me. Takahashi was her usual self. Yae was being both playful and venting to alleviate her jealousy. And our class representative was both curious and wanting payback from my remarks earlier. If they kept it up, I wouldn’t be able to finish the report.

But those problems weren’t going to stop me so easily. If they were going to knock me off while I was still working, I didn’t hold back and went full throttle. I tried to work as quickly as I could think. If there were any mistakes or extra details I missed, I’d add them after the rough version was done. I needed to hit the quota first.

Yoshikawa was surprised at my speed. “W-wow. Look at him go. I’ve never seen Kirishima-kun so serious.”

“Touya’s always been skilled at writing good reports,” Yae remarked. She knew that reports were my specialty, as Sasakura-sensei could probably attest to as well. It was why she wanted me to note down my experiences during Reduction Week.

“Jeez. I guess size doesn’t matter when it comes to online work. Technology’s amazing at closing the gap,” Takahashi was impressed as well. “No wonder we can have office jobs like this. Even someone who can’t even lift an eraser can be productive.”

“Hm… There’s a couple spelling errors, but this is really well done,” Yoshikawa complimented. “There’s still fifteen minutes left of class too.”

“That’s way too fast, isn’t it?” Yae frowned.

I appreciated all of the compliments. I was already halfway done with my third page when Yae finished her sentence. It wouldn’t be long before I finished the fourth either. I scrolled up on the computer screen to look through my notes to confirm what I wanted to write and then pushed myself to keep typing. I was going to be done, and I was sure we’d avoid getting under 70% with what we had so far.

But therein lies the biggest problem with the quota and grade requirement strategy that the health committee had decided on.

“Hey, Asano, I was thinking… Kirishima-kun’s been getting lucky all day, hasn’t he?”

Yae sighed at Takahashi’s conversation starter, “... I know what you’re thinking, Aoi-chan. You really want to mess with Touya, don’t you?”

“C’mon, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. This is the last day he’ll be smaller than you. Don’t tell me you’re going to let the chance slip by.”

“That’s… Well…,” Yae was having trouble fighting the devil on her right shoulder that was Takahashi. She tried to find an angel. “Class Rep, what do you think?”

“Eh? Me?” Yoshikawa didn’t want to be caught up in our antics. “Um… I’m fine as long we hit the 70% mark. I don’t want to have to do a handstand...”

“I’m pretty sure we’re at that point with what Kirishima-kun’s done so far. So what do you say, Asano?”

“Mmmmngh...” Unable to get an answer she wanted from Yoshikawa, Yae struggled with her choice. Unfortunately for me, she gave in. “Just what do you have planned…?”

“So you agree? Great!”

Quotas and a grade requirement were smart ideas to strongarm students into working to avoid the penalty game, but the unfair quota given to me gave the girls an opportunity.

“Gah! Takahashi, what the-” I was plucked off of my desk and the table when Takahashi pinched me between her nails.

“I think we have some time to spare, Kirishima-kun. How about we play for a bit?” 

Because the girls were sure we’d get at least 70% with what we had so far, they upped the ante. The penalty didn’t apply to them any more even if I finished. Furthermore, Takahashi and Yae were more than interested in seeing me get the penalty. There was no more reason to let me work if they weren’t concerned about getting anything above a passing score.

Takahashi pulled her hand back to her desk and me along with it. I was deposited atop the ‘6’ key of her computer. My 0.63 cm body sat on it with room to spare as I looked at my classmate’s tired but amused eyes staring back at me.

“Kukuku~!” she chuckled. “Asano, get a load of this. He’s even smaller than the keys.”

“I’m more surprised he’s not even pushing down on it,” Yae peaked over at Takahashi’s laptop. It was true. My weight wasn’t enough to press the ‘6’ key at all even after Takahashi dropped me on it.

“Sorry, Kirishima-kun,” Yoshikawa shook her head and apologized to me but she was still smiling. “I don’t think you’ll be able to finish your work anymore.”

Takahashi pretended to take offense. “C’mon, Class Rep. I’m not that mean. He’ll get a chance to get his work done. I just wanted to give him a challenge.”

A challenge? I hoped it wasn’t like what Yae had put me through last night.

Yae raised an eyebrow. “So what do you have planned, Aoi-chan?”

“It’s simple. Here, Kirishima-kun.”

What Takahashi thought up was unfortunately more physical effort for me. The girl started taking things out of her book bag and piling them up beside the laptop. Textbooks and notebooks were stacked to create a large building high above me. She then used a ruler to act as a bridge between the computer and the top of the stack. I realized what she was planning when she took my miniature desk and placed it at the very top.

“... You’re kidding, right?” I asked the question I already knew the answer to.

“What do you think, Kirishima-kun? Simple?” Takahashi chuckled as she rested her head against the table. “Just get to the top and you can work again. Nothing too big, right? Oh wait… sorry, my bad.”

“That really wasn’t a good joke, Aoi-chan,” Yae frowned. 

“Hey, I told you. Isn’t this a limited opportunity, Asano? This is your last day with him in the palm of your hand, right?”

“This is a rare occasion, Asano-san,” Yoshikawa actually agreed. “And it doesn’t seem too difficult. Kirishima-kun can do this with ease. Also, pardon me, Asano-san, but even I think it might be cute seeing Kirishima-kun climb up.”

“You two...,” Yae had a look of disbelief on her face as her teammates tried to persuade her. They were successful. “Well, I guess I can’t deny not wanting to see it. Touya was pretty athletic yesterday night. And if it’s just this, I think it should be easier even though he’s smaller today.”

“What’d you make him do yesterday?” Takahashi smirked before turning to me. “Well, you heard her. Permission granted. You ended up making it through the first two sessions, Kirishima-kun, but let’s see if you can do a third.”

Takahashi really wanted to make my life difficult. I was going to have to convince Yae to let me have control over the punishment she still owed her when I got back to normal.

It was decided that I would be navigating my way back to my table by getting to the end of the laptop and scaling the ruler. I had no say in this decision as, not only could I not say no, Takahashi started tapping the screen of her laptop with her finger. It worried me to see the laptop slowly closing with each poke. I did not want to be flattened by it so I started moving.

As I jumped, hopped, and climbed up and down the computer keys, I could hear Yoshikawa giggle. “He really is doing his best.”

I could see Takahashi trying to hold back her laughter as well. “He’s like an ant crawling around...”

I really was one. I didn’t expect the keys on the keyboard to actually be an obstacle, but constant change in elevation was pain to deal with. I couldn’t stray off the course either as if I started to move in another direction, Takahashi would smack with her finger, slamming me right down into the keyboard and causing a string of repeated letters to be typed onto the screen.

“Grk!”

“Hey, it’s a straight course. No going elsewhere,” she ordered me with a cat-like smile. She was getting too much enjoyment out of toying with me. It annoyed me to know I couldn’t disobey her in my current state.

I made it to the edge of the computer where Takahashi had placed a ruler. It sloped upwards to the top of a pile of books. Takahashi didn’t use too many books so the slope wasn’t extreme, but I still had to get the top of a stack at least twenty times my height.

“Something tells me there’s a catch,” I frowned as I started to move up the ruler. I was getting my third workout today.

And of course, there was. When I was a third of the way up, I had to brace myself against a strong gust. Turning my head, I could see Takahashi pursing her lips together. She was making it difficult for me by blowing air my way.

“Kukuku~! Didn’t think it’d be that easy, would it, Kirishima-kun? Fuuuuu~”

“Wow. Just a breath from over here and he had to stop because of it? How light is Kirishima-kun?” Yoshikawa was astonished.

“Very,” Yae frowned as she looked at the rest of the class. Everyone was still hard at work because nobody wanted the penalty, but there were glances in our direction because we were fooling around. “Aoi-chan, don’t blow too hard. I don’t want you sending Touya flying.”

“I’ll be careful. C’mon. You two join in too. It’s no fun alone,” Takahashi grinned as she blew again. This one was even stronger than the last. Considering my less than 1 cm body was less than a gram in weight now, just a simple huff from Takahashi was enough to force me off balance. I was comparable to an eraser scrap she could blow away without an effort.

“They’re seriously messing with me,” I ground my teeth and tried to keep going forward. Yae and Yoshikawa joined in as well. I was assaulted from three directions by light breaths of wind. It must have looked weird to the others in the classroom to see the three of them pursing their lips and blowing at the same target, but I had no time to consider the sight when I was in the middle of it all.

“My turn, Touya. Fooooo~!”

It was like trying to go home in a typhoon that was picking up speed. Yae’s breath blew from my left, causing me to stumble to the right. I was then hit by Takahashi’s from the right, pushing me back on track but the extra force of her breath pushed me further left. I was zig zagging up the ruler thanks to their efforts. Even so, I was able to avoid falling off. I was two thirds of the way up the ruler and was almost there at the goal. Just a bit more and I’d be able to see the top of the stack of textbooks.

And that was where my confidence got the better of me.

“Almost Kirishima-kun!” I saw Yoshikawa’s pink lips enter my field of view when I nearly got to the top. She was waiting for me to get up to her. “Fwoooo!”

“Uwaah!” I wasn’t able to brace myself in time for Yoshikawa’s powerful tempest. She hadn’t had the opportunity to figure out how strong or weak to blow. What she considered a reasonable breath was enough to not only catch me off guard but also lift me off my feet. I was sent flying into the air like a kite for a moment before gravity quickly pulled me down. I fell back off the ruler entirely and onto the table, my body tumbling further due to my momentum. To make matters worse, I had gotten to the edge. Instead of stopping, I rolled off the tabe, falling a second time. “Wah!”

“Whoa. I think that was a bit much there, Class Rep,” Takahashi pulled back when she saw I had flown off the ruler. I had caught myself just barely and was literally hanging on the edge of the table with just my arm strength. I didn’t want to fall. The table was a cliff to me.

“Kyaa! Touya! I’ve got you!” an alarmed Yae rushed to cup her hands beneath me so I could fall into her palm. I was grateful to land in the plush, stadium sized field of her hand.

“Uwah! S-sorry, Kirishima-kun,” Yoshikawa was also taken aback to what had happened. “That could’ve been dangerous, couldn’t it?”

It certainly was. If I had fallen to the floor, that would’ve hurt. I would’ve known how Nakano felt when Saeki flicked him.

“That was close,” Yae exhaled a breath of relief as she placed me on the top of the book stack next to my table. “Aoi-chan, I think we should just Touya get back to work. That must have been scary for him.”

“I guess you’re right,” Takahashi frowned but agreed. “And jeez… He’s going to get me back for this later… I was just trying to have fun too… Class Rep, you really went overboard there.”

“Sorry. I didn’t think it’d be that strong to him,” Yoshikawa felt bad. “Kirishima-kun, I’ll pay you back with something. I promise.”

I was grateful to be finally given a rest from the girls. And for Takahashi to admit her fault and Yoshikawa to promise me an apology gift, I at least made it through the sudden trial with a plus instead of a minus.

Still, my body was now exhausted. Looking at the time on the miniaturized laptop on my desk, I frowned. There were seven minutes left. There wasn’t going to be any time to relax if I wanted to avoid the penalty.

This was going to be one rough last sprint to finish.

(46) Day 5 Session 4: Medicine Making (0.63 cm > 0.50 cm)

“Waaaaah!”

So in the end, who didn’t avoid the penalty given by Akagi and Morino? 

“Hey, Fumika-chan, look. It’s that one movie. The one with the shark!”

Who were the people who had to endure the Upside-down Hanging?

“It’s more like those spy movies where the captured agent is hanging over a death trap...”

Who were the girls who had to do an upside down handstand and who were the reduced boys who would be held upside down by Fumika Morino and Kasumi Akagi?

“Nishishishi~! Kasumi-chan, open wider. Aaaaah~n!”

The answer, unfortunately, was one person. Every group met the 70% grade requirement so the girls were safe, but there was one boy who couldn’t meet the page quota. The only person to have failed to meet the required amount of pages was one reduced boy: me. I would have preferred to have someone suffer with me, but the other guys had an easier time because they had a smaller quota. If it hadn’t been for Takahashi fooling around and exhausting me, I wouldn’t have been in this predicament, but now I was suffering from the two occult-loving giant friends’ antics.

“Like this? Aaah~n!”

Akagi opened her mouth while Morino held me by my leg above it. Morino’s comparison of a captured agent fit my predicament precisely. Akagi’s mouth was a death trap. With my leg pinched between Morino’s fingers, I was suspended above her open mouth. My body was assaulted by her hot, moist breath as Morino held this position that looked like I was being fed to Akagi.

To call me a bite-sized snack to Akagi would be over-selling my size. Being under a centimeter, I was less than a crumb to her. Her mouth was a cavern of pink and white. Her pearly white teeth were each larger than me. This was also my first time realizing Akagi had very sharp canines. Her long, pink tongue licked them and then spread out, as though wanting to welcome me if I fell in. I could see strands of saliva clinging from the top of her mouth to her tongue, and behind it all, I could see an ominous frightening blackness that led down to her stomach.

The occult lover never seemed that frightening when I spoke to her in the health committee meetings. She always seemed small and cutesy, hiding her fingers with her sleeves. She tried using those sleeves and fingers to make a cutesy cat-like pose while I dangled over her. It was anything but cute to me, however. I felt afraid of her for the first time. Her massive fangs could tear me apart. Her serpent-like tongue could coil around me and coat me in her thick, viscous saliva. I could fall into the darkness that was her throat and enter her stomach, never to return.

“Hiiiii!” I squeaked. I was one step away from being dropped in Akagi’s mouth. She could easily bite down on me like I was grain of rice or even just swallow me whole without needing to chew.

“Aww… Look at him. He’s so scared,” Akagi noticed my panic and giggled. “What’s a matter, Tou-san? Afraid I’ll eat you up?”

“He wouldn’t even be filling,” Morino joined in and got close to Akagi’s face. She moved me from being above Akagi’s mouth to her own. I bore witness to Morino’s remarkably long tongue as she stretched it out. “How about it, Touya-san? Are you going to let two girls frighten you more than ghosts and youkai?”

I was. There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I was absolutely terrified of the smell of mint coming from Morino’s mouth. She had chewed some gum before pulling this on me, so she was certainly conscious of her breath, but that made me even more worried. Why did she have to be concerned for her breath while holding me over her mouth? 

“Hora~!” Morino jerked her arm, causing me to panic further as I got closer to her mouth. “You know, that youkai in the video earlier was said to eat people, right? I wonder what that’d be like...”

Morino was far more frightening than any monster at the moment because this was a real danger. Though the girls were certain that no harm would come to me while they teased me, I couldn’t be so sure. Just one mistake and I’d be less than a piece of candy for them.

“W-wow. He’s really terrified. Maybe I went too far…,” Morino pulled me back and saw my trembling body pinched between her fingers.

“He’ll be fine, Fumika-chan. Tou-san’s made of tougher stuff than that,” grinned Akagi. “Nishishishi~! Wait until the others hear about this. We were the ones who got Tou-san first today.”

“Yup! Yup!” Morino grinned. “Touya-san, tell me how scary it was later. I’d love to hear your thoughts.”

I was relieved after Morino put me back down. She placed me on the rolling cart with the tables of the other boys she had collected after the class ended. I didn’t have the energy to stand so I just stayed prone on the ground. I never wanted to be that close to being eaten again.

Yae and Sasakura-sensei hadn’t been around to stop them. When class ended, everyone was told that the next class would be in a different room so Sensei led the girls all there while Morino and Akagi collected all of us boys and then gave the penalty.

I was in no state to think as Ryou and Eguchi came over to pick me up and bring me back to the tables. Morino and Akagi had to get back to their duty as health committee members, so they started to identify us boys on the cart using their printed seating chart of all of the desks. After they did, Akagi lifted the walls of the miniaturized classroom back up and Morino put the roof back on as well. The room had shrunken further over the course of the last class, so it fit in Akagi’s hand when she picked it up.

“Let’s get to the next room, boys,” Akagi spoke as her long sleeves wrapped around the classroom, blocking out our light. 

There was nothing we could do but be literally taken along for the ride as Akagi went to the next session’s room. Akagi was not careful. Despite her best efforts in trying to make sure we were in proper seats, her steps tossed us all over the place. We endured as we headed to the next session of the day.

What was the next session? Session 4 was science based. Specifically, it was called Medicine Making. That was why we were taken to a lab room.

“Ah~ Just in time~! The girls were just finished with their preparations for the lab~! We can start right away~!”

“Emi-chan, no need to get so excited. We need to make sure the boys understand the session before we send them off.”

“Oh, right~! Let’s do that then, Nacchan~!”

I heard a familiar pair of voices when Akagi and Morino entered the room. 

Kamiya-Senpai and Yanase-senpai were in charge of this session. We were given to Yanase-senpai who placed us atop an empty desk in the science lab room. Next to her, I saw, was Kamiya-senpai who now had a lab coat on.

Yanase-senpai removed the roof and knocked down the walls of the miniature classroom so that we were exposed once again. We stared up at the two towering upperclassmen who had tied back their hair into ponytails.

Well, to be more specific, we started up at Kamiya-senpai in particular. Yanase-senpai was happily giving us a view of white panties by getting a bit too close to the table. She didn’t seem to mind and was staring down at us with her usual smile. It literally knocked us down though when she bumped her thigh-high clad leg into the table. The sheer mass of her thigh alone sent a noticeable shockwave through the table. Yanase-senpai didn’t seem to notice, however, as she had merely brushed against it in her eyes. It made me wonder just how heavy she was compared to us, though I pushed thought to the back of my head, knowing if Yanase-senpai knew what I was thinking, I’d feel the full force of her weight.

“Well, I suppose I should welcome you all to the field of medicine, today,” Kamiya-senpai started, blissfully content and unaware of my worries, “Today, your fourth session shall be another joint session between the boys and girls. We will be exploring a science career that is done by both normal sized and reduced individuals.”

As expected of our health committee senior, Kamiya-senpai was fond of the sciences, especially chemistry. It was only natural that she’d lead a session about it. Yanase-senpai was also around to help as well, but Kamiya-senpai took charge. I spotted Ishigaki-sensei sulking in the corner of the lab room, annoyed that her job in explaining had been taken. Senpai made no errors as she explained, though, so Sensei decided to remain silent and just watch the session with curiosity.

“When it comes to chemistry, precision is vital. From proper doses to proper amounts of reactants in reactions, it is important to obtain accurate and precise measurements. Otherwise, you put others at risk for your mistakes,” Kamiya-senpai spoke without reading from the government provided blurb. “Today, everybody will be working together to reduce such risks as much as possible… within a percentage of error of course.”

We were going to be doing a chemistry lab was the gist of Kamiya-senpai’s explanation. Our goal was to be as accurate as we could.

“Once again, you boys will be in groups with the girls~” Yanase-senpai switched into detailing things for us. “You have to help your group get within 10% error of the amount of the final product you make~.”

That didn’t sound too unreasonable. We weren’t going to be able to do much of the lab considering our size, though. I was currently 0.50 cm, half a centimeter, so none of us were going to be able to travel very far on the tables. In fact, the glass flask right next to us towered over us like a skyscraper. We’d be relying mainly on the girls for this lesson, so that put them more at fault than us.

“Oh, Nacchan~ Shouldn’t we explain the lab to the boys~?” Yanase-senpai recalled. “They’re only doing one part, but they should know the basics, right~?” 

At that, Kamiya-senpai nodded. “Oh, yes. We should give an example as to how everyone will be cooperating.”

“Okay then. Touya-kun~ Come on up~!”

I flinched at the mention of my name. Yanase-senpai had reminded Kamiya-senpai because she had been waiting for this opportunity to use me as the example. Reluctantly, I got out of my shrunken desk and walked away from the other guys.

Slam!

“What the-?”

The second I was a reasonable enough distance away, a glass wall was dropped between me and the other boys. Or rather, a glass prison. I was surrounded on all sides.

“I got him, Nacchan~!” Yanase-senpai’s voice sounded muffled but was incredibly loud as it vibrated the glass around me. I realized from seeing the inverted numbers that she had placed a small beaker over me. Before I could process anything further however, the glass behind me struck my back. I was pushed forward as though somebody had slammed the gas pedal in a race.

Yanase-senpai pulled the beaker towards the edge of the table where she then bent down to look at me through the glass.

Flick!

“Gaah!” a painful ring plagued my ears when Yanase-senpai playfully flicked the glass. Was this what the New Years’ bells sounded like from the inside? 

“-llo Touya-kun~! We’ll be having you show the others the ropes, so I hope you’re ready~!” I heard Yanase-senpai say as my ears slowly recovered.

“Ready? Ready for what? Hey! Senpai!” I slammed my fist on the inverted beaker. It was a worthless effort but one I did instinctively as a result of being imprisoned. Even just two millimeters of glass was enough to both trap me and silence me.

“Emi-chan, be gentle, please,” Kamiya-senpai tried to convince her but it was to no avail. The next thing I knew, Yanase-senpai flipped the beaker over. The edge of the beaker slammed into the back of my legs, knocking me over. I fell back, tumbled, and fell down the beaker until I landed on the bottom of it.

“I’m so not getting used to this…,” I groaned as I tried to get up. My butt remained planted to the glass, however, because I froze when I looked up.

My height was constantly being put into perspective this day, and being inside the beaker was no different. The 150 mL beaker was small, able to be held within Yanase-senpai’s hand with ease. She only used three of her fingers to wrap around the beaker I was in while she held it. I could see her skin press against the glass walls that rose many times over my head. Each finger was over twice my size in thickness and the gaps between her fingers let light shine through like windows.

When I looked straight up, my body shivered. Yanase-senpai was looking down at me, or rather, one gigantic eye was peering down at me from above with bright-eyed interest. I couldn’t see all of her at all, just her hand that was surrounding the beaker. I wasn’t even tall enough to reach the lowest measurement marking on the beaker.

“Half a centimeter really is one teensy-tiny size~,” giggled my upperclassman. “I don’t think he’ll be strong enough for this, Nacchan~.”

“Perhaps we should have hosted this session earlier in the day,” frowned Kamiya-senpai. She shook her head after a while. “No… I suppose even at 1 centimeter, this would be as much of a challenge.”

What was Kamiya-senpai referring to? My question was answered when she started to pour something into the beaker I was in. I wasn’t quick enough to react as the bottom of the small glass started to be filled, nor was I able to evade any bit of the avalanche of pink and green boulder sized spheres that tumbled down onto me.

“My apologies, Kirishima-kun. Are you okay?”

Kamiya-senpai had dropped a number of different colored pills into the beaker. I could see from my surroundings that there were two types: green ones which were as large as medicine balls and pink ones that were twice as large. Both felt heavier than bowling balls and anvils respectively to me.

The health committee leader began to explain the goal to the other guys as the beaker I was on was placed onto the table. “This is a small example, but you all shall be assisting the girls with measurements for their lab trials today. Shortly, you will be placed in a larger beaker with the pink Pill A and the green Pill B. You all will be assisting the girls in ensuring that their trials will have the correct ratio of pills.”

“The pink ones are four times heavier than the green~” Yanase-senpai added. “If you have trouble, try rolling them like the ball races during the sports festival~!”

“The ratios, weights, and amounts will be calculated by the girls so you will simply be doing the leg work for them when they give you all the orders,” nodded Kamiya-senpai. “As such, your only quota to meet will be to complete all of the required trials by the end of class.”

“Oh, but if your group does not get under 10% accuracy to the expected amount~...” giggled Yanase-senpai. “We will be getting to play a penalty game with all of you~!”

Despite having warned me about them earlier this morning, Yanase-senpai was enjoying the idea of a penalty a bit too much. I saw that she held the popsicle stick that had the penalty in her hand, but she did not let us see it. It was apparently another penalty that could apply to both the girls and us, though.

In any case, I demonstrated what we were to do when Kamiya-senpai gave me orders for a 1 to 1 ratio of 5 pink to green pills. I ended up following Yanase-senpai’s advice in rolling them. It was a laborious activity because of their weight, but the perfectly rounded spheres moved surprisingly smoothly. Though how smoothly it’d go for larger amounts made me worried.

Nonetheless, after preparations were completed, our upperclassmen divided us out into beakers. We were transferred into much larger, 500 mL beakers with even more pills to make the bottom of the beaker resemble half of a ball pit. It felt like we were being treated as another piece of lab equipment. Considering we were around the same size as the larger pills, I couldn’t deny that description. The girls who had been working on their calculations and preparing the lab equipment in the meanwhile were then allowed to come get us.

“Let us see here… Yoshikawa-san and Yamaguchi-san, you will be with Fujimoto-kun and Aikawa-kun… And Yoshikawa-san, please be gentle.” “So you heard… I’m sorry about Kirishima-kun...” “Don’t mind it, Class Rep.” 

“Shima-san, Tsujimoto-san~! Natsume-kun and Eguchi-kun will be in your care~!” “Eh? Ryou? Seriously?” “With Eguchi-kun? I’ll be careful, I promise.” 

“Hozuki-san, Watanabe-san, please be careful with Yamabuki-kun and Arai-kun.” “As long as they do their work, I won’t complain.” “Lucky! Hiroshi, we got paired up! My tension’s hyped up now!”

With how the pairs were being assigned, I assumed I’d be with Takahashi and Yae again, but I saw Takahashi get stuck with Satou to my surprise. Apparently, because word had gotten to Senpai’s ears of how she had fooled around last session, the pairs had been rearranged. I was grateful to be free from the teasing for a short time. As for who I was working with...

“Yae-chan, you will be working with Kirishima-kun of course. As for your partner for this session, Honda-san, I heard that you were getting along well with Nakano-kun, so I took the liberty of making the arrangement.”

“Y-you didn’t have to. I-I was just worried about Nakano-kun, that’s all,” Honda blushed and stuttered as the beaker Nakano and I were in was handed off to Yae.

“Touya, are you doing okay? Sorry about earlier. You almost made it in time. It’s my fault for going along with Aoi-chan,” Yae apologized.

“You three looked like you were having fun,” Honda noted. “I’m curious how that penalty game went though. Nobody was around for it because Sensei rushed us over here.”

“Touya, tell me about it later, okay? Those two girls didn’t do anything bad, right?”

I was going to have to think of a way to describe what happened to Yae honestly while still omitting some major parts, like me panicking frantically. In any case, Yae and I were with Nakano and Honda - an impressive pair to have together in my opinion.

“Consider this a benefit of being friends with a health committee member,” I smirked, glancing over at Nakano who was embarrassed Kamiya-senpai had put him with Honda because of how she had been caring for him. While they weren’t at all close, that didn’t mean we weren’t trying to pair them up. I appreciated that even the serious Kamiya-senpai had picked up on the sparks between them.

“Seriously, it’s not like that yet,” Nakano tried to argue with me.

“Yet?”

“N-nevermind,” he gave up. His ears were red from embarrassment. “Thanks Kirishima-kun.”

“You’re welcome, especially thanks to that extra quota for me,” I sighed. Our upperclassmen didn’t forget about giving me a tougher challenge compared to the other guys. Considering the requirements for this session, however, this one was surprisingly fair in that it wouldn’t increase the chances of me getting the penalty by too much. All I had to do was do one of the trials without Nakano’s help.

We were brought back to Yae and Honda’s lab table and set off on our tasks almost immediately. Honda and Yae had already calculated out all of the ratios so they used a piece of tape to prop their scratch paper up above us so we could see it like a billboard (if billboards were the size of city parks).

They were efficient, I gave them that. We had plenty of time to just stare at Honda’s impressive knockers when they landed on the lab table as she bent down to try speaking to us. The massive grammage of them far outweighed us and the boulder sized pills around us. She nearly knocked the beaker over with their weight which now had to be in the range of thousands of tons compared to us. 

“Nakano-kun, Kirishima-kun, do you understand? It’s a 10 green and 15 pink for a 2:3 ratio for the first trial. Maybe one of you should handle the green and the other gets the pink. Are you clear?” Honda detailed her orders to us. It sounded like she was talking to a grade schooler. I supposed without being able to properly see us respond, she was trying to make sure we understood her instructions. It felt bad to be talked down to by even the gentle Honda, but considering she was 600 m tall to us bug sized boys, we were nowhere close to being on the same level.

600 m… For the girls to be over half a kilometer… for me to start having to use kilometers as the unit to measure their heights was eye-opening to me. Quite honestly, though they were instructing us on what we had to do for the lab, we were being ordered with no chance of refusing. Honda and Yae effectively had all of the authority over us for the duration of the session as we were tools for them to get the lab done properly. It felt demeaning to consider myself as such, but the difference between us was made clear when Yae’s skyscraper fingers entered the titanic beaker, her hand filling almost all of it up.

“There we go. This should help,” Yae stated after having taped a cut out piece of cardstock to the beaker. It had the word Pink on one side and the word Green on the other. She had made a divide for us to separate the pink and green on one side of the beaker. “Touya, you handle the pink. Nakano-kun can take the green. We’ll take the pills when you’re done.”

There was no rejecting Yae’s decree. She had created a massive building sized wall with ease after all. After having over doubled in size since the beginning of the day, the girls had shot far past Tokyo Tower sized to the point where the tower would be beneath their legs. The Skytree was probably more along their level, and even then, they were still growing higher and higher into our skies as we continued being reduced. Every movement, every action, and every word they spoke shook the beaker we were in and altered our environment with ease, demonstrating the outstanding level of power they had.

“Let’s get to work I guess, Kirishima-kun,” Nakano took to rolling the smaller green spheres. I joined him in following orders. 

The task was at least a simple labor. While Yae and Honda prepared the rest of the chemicals for the experiment, we prepped the last thing they’d need before each trial. Nakano and I tried treating it like the sports festival but stopped because that tired us out too quickly. I definitely had a harder time than Nakano despite having fewer to roll over simply because of how heavy the spheres were. Whatever the pills were, they had some weight to them. If we did this session any later in the day, we wouldn’t be able to budge them.

And of course, that wasn’t the case for Yae and Honda.

“Are they done yet?” Honda leaned in to stare at us through the glass. We were resting using the green pills as seats. “They aren’t moving.”

“I guess that means they are. Let’s do this then,” Yae decided. She then turned her attention to us, me in particular. “Touya, Nakano-kun, hold on tight.”

Hold on to what? There was nothing to hang on to as Yae tilted the beaker over. Honda and I fell off the pills we were sitting on as everything began to slide, us included. Yae was pouring what we had exerted ourselves moving to one side of the beaker out onto a coffee filter. We were blocked from falling out with the rest of the pills by Yae’s building sized finger. If it weren’t for the hassle of having to count and move each small colored pill, I was certain Yae and Honda could do this lab without us.

“I’m feeling a little inadequate here,” I remarked when Yae the entire beaker we were in back down.

“They definitely can do all of this without us, but this is just a part of the session, I think,” Nakano answered me. “I wonder if this type of job would need protective equipment if the chemicals were more dangerous.”

He had a point. The pills we were working with seemed simplistic and safe. Yae wasn’t using gloves to handle them, though Honda had put a pair on herself. If we ever had to deal with more dangerous chemicals, I wondered if they’d have to make us wear full-body suits and gas masks for our protection or if this job would be too dangerous with other chemicals. 

“That flask over there worries me,” I pointed outside of the glass for Nakano to turn his head. 

Yae used a mallet to smack our pills inside the coffee filter to break them smaller. She then began pouring the pills into a small flask which had some murky liquid in it. The moment the green and pink pills fell in, we could see them dissolve and bubble. Some type of reaction was going on before Honda even started moving the flask over to the open flame of a bunsen burner.

“Wonder if that stuff would dissolve us,” I mumbled. 

Nakano shuddered. “K-Kirishima-kun, that sounds a thousand times scarier than the video last class.”

Seeing something bigger and heavier than us get eaten away in front of our eyes only hammered into our heads how fragile we seemed to be at our size. We moved onto the next trial’s pills to try and forget about my own words. 

That topic couldn’t be avoided though as other students were also curious.

“Hey, Kami-paisen, what’d happen if this gets on the boys?” asked a curious Nomiya.

“Pais-?” For a second, Kamiya-senpai was confused about how Nomiya addressed her. “I would rather nobody does that, Nomiya-san. They will be fine as anything that has gone through the Reduction process should be safe, but the solution may still cause their skin to sting if they are exposed for too long. Also, it will soak into their clothes and stain them. The smell of that solution is rather pungent after it is heated. I would doubt they would be able to handle it, and,  if we grow them back later today, I am afraid none of us in the health committee will enjoy the smell either.”

“Oh… Um, you might want to come over here then. The tweezers totes had that stuff on them.”

“Oh my~... I’ll handle it, Nacchan~” Yanase-senpai went to help.

So it wouldn’t dissolve us. That was at least one positive. I questioned how bad the smell would get however. At least Yanase-senpai was using the cleaning balm.

The conversations continued as our work continued as well. When Nakano and I were working on moving the pills for the third trial, Kamiya-senpai approached us.

“Yae-chan, Honda-san, how do you two feel about the session? Actually, perhaps I should ask about all of the sessions so far,” she asked, searching for some feedback.

“It’s not that difficult, Senpai. Actually, nothing we did today was really that difficult,” Honda stated.

“I don’t think that’d apply to the boys though, this must have been a tough day for them,” Yae observed. “Though some of that was our fault...”

Yae’s answer seemed to please Kamiya-senpai. “Right you are. We made our best attempt to arrange the government’s requirements as well as we could for a classroom.”

“You were?” Yae was skeptical. “It seems to me like you ended up pushing too many things on Touya, though.”

“Oh my, are you perhaps worried for your boyfriend, Yae-chan?” giggled Kamiya-senpai after hearing Yae’s accusation.

“He’s not my boyfriend... yet...”

“Well, I will admit to it,” Kamiya-senpai accepted the accusation. “Sensei was searching for a way to have the boys be somewhat accountable for their work today, and these quotas were what I considered. I was not the one to single out Kirishima-kun, however.”

“Yanase-senpai said it was the other girls in the club, right? Something about them knowing Touya so it’d be easier to do this stuff with everyone?”

“Well, while that is true… How do I say this…? If I am to be honest, the girls had Kirishima-kun as their main target the entire time,” Kamiya-senpai looked away from both Yae and me as she scratched the bridge of her nose sheepishly.

“The whole time?” Honda was surprised and confused as she took the pills from us since she saw we finished getting what they needed for the third trial. She handed it to Yae.

“When the idea came up, the club voted on it unanimously, brainstormed penalty game ideas, and played rock-paper-scissors for a chance at playing with Kirishima-kun… The other boys were an after-thought,” Kamiya-senpai explained. “Kirishima-kun is quite popular in our committee after all... ”

Was I? I helped out a lot, but I didn’t think I made friends with everyone in the committee. There was a larger number of girls than boys in the committee, admittedly, but I didn’t expect it to be a unanimous vote unless only the girls got a vote because they got to lead the entirety of Reduction Week while the boys were reduced.

Slaaaaaaaaaaaaam!

My thoughts were interrupted by a heavy crash that sent a shockwave vibrating through my body. The entire class heard it. Yae didn’t tap the pill with the mallet to break it. She pounded it. Even the girls were surprised by how strongly she crushed it.

“Touya… Popular?... I never heard about this… Can we talk about this later...?”

That was not a request. Yae could be the jealous type. I knew that. I did not appreciate Senpai provoking her when she was armed with something that could turn boulder-sized pills into powder.

Well, even Senpai felt uncomfortable having had to tell us that. “My apologies, Kirishima-kun. I knew I should not have brought that up, but I felt I should be honest with you as to why you have been getting these unfair quotas.”

It certainly explained Saeki’s disappointment when I met the quota in the second session as well as Akagi’s and Morino’s excitement when I didn’t meet the third session’s quota. My somewhat fair quota this time was most likely due to Kamiya-senpai’s influence over the session. In any case, Senpai tried explaining things to Yae so she’d calm down. She had to describe the tales of my assisting the health committee members to Yae. 

In the end, Yae shook her head and looked over at me. “I give up… Touya… how many flags did you raise…?”

“He might have raised more than Eguchi-kun,” Honda remarked with a giggle, “It may be a good thing he’s dedicated to you, Yae-chan. He broke them all in no time flat.”

“I-I don’t know whether I should feel happy about that or not anymore,” Yae tried to hide her face. She was happy but still wanted to pout. I had to thank Honda for saying the one line that got her to stop glaring at me.

“Kirishima-kun, you’re quite the guy,” Nakano chuckled while pushing the second to last green sphere needed for the fourth trial. “It’s no wonder you and Eguchi-kun are friends.”

“I still don’t think I’m any popular,” I defended. “If I knew I was, I feel like I’d be a different kind of guy.”

“No. You’d still be dedicated to Asano-san, I’m pretty sure.”

“You’re darn right I’d be.”

“Always the straight-forward type, aren’t you?” laughed Nakano. 

At the very least, Yae had been defused. We were able to get through the fourth trial with no issue as a result. Well, the only issue would have been Yae giving me a cold look of disgust for a moment while she grabbed the pills. Though I was fearful, I had to admit it was a peculiar sight. It had a strange appeal, perhaps because of its rarity.

Nakano took a few steps away from me upon noticing my reaction. “Kirishima-kun… Don’t tell me you’re an M…”

I wasn’t. It was just because it was Yae.

Kamiya-senpai left us to our devices after the conversation ended. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean things were over. I couldn’t forget Yanase-senpai. After the fourth trial was the last one where I was going to be pushing with Nakano because the fifth was going to be my solo pushing. My special quota had been arranged by her so, as expected, Senpai quietly came over just to observe me pushing the spherical pills.

“Touya-kun~ You’re on the last trial, huh~?” Yanase-senpai happily strolled on over and took a seat atop the table we were on. The beaker we were in started shaking and nearly tipped over when her skirt-clad butt bumped into it. Unlike Kamiya-senpai, she was less careful about lab safety. Not was she concerned about the placement of her skirt either as it created a canopy over the beaker for a moment.

“I was wondering when she’d get closer,” I mumbled. I hesitated to turn around to see the massive wall that was Yanase-senpai’s leg was right behind me. Nakano got a good look at it and started babbling about side-tie panties in surprise. The upperclassman Yae and I knew since middle school was as carefree as ever letting us get a peak of her underwear.

“S-Senpai, your skirt...” Honda tried to get her to adjust, but Senpai then put her right leg over her left, giving everyone nearby a clear view of her thighs. Yae and I knew better than to react, having gotten used to it since middle school, though the view was impressive, especially the clear view where Yanase-senpai’s white thigh highs pinched her thighs. I contemplated how Yae’s black ones would look. They seemed to squeeze so tightly, I doubted even a reduced guy like me would be able to move if trapped in them.

“Gah. Begone, my delusions,” I shook my head.

Despite my size, my ever-observant Senpai was able to predict my actions. She didn’t need to see me while I was out of view beneath her skirt and by her butt as she shifted about, purposefully hitting the beaker Nakano and I were in. 

“Touya-kun~ Even if you shake away your delusions, you still had them, didn’t you~?” she asked quietly before scooting away just slightly. To Nakano and I, it seemed she moved a dozen meters away in an instant.

“Senpai… you’re too much," Yae dryly remarked.

She certainly was. Yanase-senpai frowned while slowly sweeping her finger around the beaker’s rim above us. “If only the beaker wasn’t necessary~. I wanted to scare Touya-kun some more~ and it’d be so much better if the glass wasn’t in the way~!”

“Senpai, please…,” Yae tried to stay quiet. Senpai’s conspicuous way of sitting was bad enough. If the other classmates heard her words, she’d feel embarrassed to be associated with her.

She already did enough this morning, honestly. Yanase-senpai’s love of fooling around with me and Yae never stopped. She was also happily nudging her butt to and fro along the table. She didn’t even have to touch the beaker. Her movements were powerful enough that I couldn’t keep my feet still nor could the spheres rolling around me as they jerked left and right alongside Senpai’s motions.

The upperclassman noticed and stopped the beaker by putting her fingertips on the edge of the glass. Nakano and I suddenly found ourselves yanked to the side at ridiculous speeds. Nakano and I were both slammed into the wall of the glass along with the pills which smacked into us. 

“Oh my~ I may have forced Touya-kun to have to start over~. I shook the beaker too much~,” Yanase-senpai knew what she had done, and she wasn’t repentant. She merely giggled and whispered. “Sorry, Touya-kun~ I just wanted to get you closer~”

Closer was an understatement. What Senpai had done in an instant was raise her leg and then pull the beaker we were in under it. The white and peach colored walls completely blocking our view of the rest of the classroom were her legs and underwear. She had moved us between her thighs.

“S-senpai, that’s a little revealing, isn’t it?” Honda was concerned. She looked around to check if anyone else was paying attention. They thankfully weren’t.

“It should be fine~. The boys have probably been seeing them all day so there’s no reason to be concerned about it now~” Yanase-senpai seemed completely fine with exposing herself to us. 

“Kirishima-kun, I feel sorry for you, having to put up with all of this,” Nakano commented while trying to keep his eyes away from seeing the up-close sight of the giant wall of Yanase-senpai’s panty-clad crotch. He was not succeeding considering how much of our view consisted of Yanase-senpai’s body.

“Thanks for the pity,” I scrunched my nose. I wasn’t succeeding either, but I at least knew Senpai enough to know this wouldn’t last too long. I tried remaining calm while a feminine scent entered the beaker and lingered around us. I tried to not think about where it was coming from lest Yae get angry with me later. 

The reason why I said that I knew Senpai enough that our current stay would be brief was because Yanase-senpai took joy in flustering me and Yae. Even more than me, she knew the best ways to push Yae’s buttons and rile her up quickly.

“Touya-kun~ Nakano-kun~ Would you like to play with me~? Yae-chan and Honda-san are cute, but wouldn’t you prefer a lovely older girl~?” To hammer it home, Senpai closed the space between her legs, squeezing the beaker we were in with her legs. We could see her thighs press against the glass. The beaker walls felt fragile compared to the imposing flesh walls pressing against them. 

“Senpai, what are you doing…?”

“Ah, didn’t you know, Yae-chan~? A lady’s Pheromones are a lot stronger on Reduced men~! If I leave them here for just ten minutes, they’ll fall for me~!” Senpai whispered quietly enough for only people nearby to her. 

“Eh?!” “What?!”

Was that the truth? I had been pressed against Yae’s panties earlier and admittedly did start worrying about losing my sense of reason. I hoped it was a lie considering Senpai often led Yae on. Still, I didn’t completely trust the potency of the sensory spray.  Even with our senses dulled, there was musky odor spreading around us. It wasn’t as strong as being crushed under Yae, but the mixture of Senpai’s pungent sweat and her womanly curve’s charming fragrance was actually somewhat alluring. I seemed to be more acquainted with it compared to Nakano, who was red in the face while he tried to cover his mouth and nose.

“Nakano… How are you holding up…?” I asked while covering my mouth with my arm.

“A little… dizzy… My body feels a little hot too...,”

I couldn’t disagree. We were up next to our upperclassman’s womanhood which was larger than a skyscraper after all. Even with the beaker’s glass and Senpai’s white side-tie panties in the way, we couldn’t avoid its presence.

“Fufu~n~! They’re really getting a whiff, aren’t they~? I’m so embarrassed~!”

Senpai was being very bold to tease Yae, but both she and Honda didn’t need any more convincing.

“No, Touya!”  “No, not Nakano-kun!”

Yae took the bait. Honda did as well. They really didn’t want us to be charmed. The two of them shouted loudly enough that the rest of the class turned in their direction. Causing both of them to turn red, flustered and embarrassed. This was what Yanase-senpai had been aiming for the entire time. She started giggling while Kamiya-senpai in the far side of the room only shook her head, having realized what she had done.

“My, my~! How adorable~! I was just joking, Yae-chan~! Fufu~n~” the health committee member/ student council secretary couldn’t stop her laughing fit as she freed Nakano and I from the grip of her thighs. 

“Eh? A joke?”

“It was a lie about the pheromones~! There’s been no experiments that proved it was true~,” Senpai grabbed the beaker we were in and put us away from her legs. She then stood up and got off the table. “But I’m super impressed with you two~! You must really love them to react that loudly~.”

“L-Love? N-No, I don’t think- Nakano-kun, it’s not… Um… Um...” “Lo-! I-I mean, I do, but… Senpai, please! This is embarrassing!” 

“Emi-chan, go easy on them…,” Kamiya-senpai sighed when she approached to drag Yanase-senpai away. “And telling a lie like that is in poor taste.”

“Sorry~ Sorry~! Hehehe~!”

I was going to have to tell Senpai that it wasn’t as much of a lie as she thought it was. Nakano and I were still suffering from the fact that the smell of Yanase-senpai’s womanhood lingered at the bottom of the beaker where we were. I was thankful when she started waving her hand above it to try bringing in some fresh air.

Well, Nakano and I admitted seeing the defeated, tomato-red faced girls we were partnered with was both amusing and embarrassing. To think they’d both fall for Yanase-senpai’s lie so easily… Actually, to think Honda would focus her attention on Nakano so strongly… We were definitely going to get a couple after Reduction Week was over. If not, I’d have to smack Nakano.

All of the antics of the period settled as the lab neared its end. I was able to succeed in my quota despite Yanase-senpai’s interruption, and Yae and Honda were able to finish the lab after recovering from their self-destruction earlier. They were doing their best to avoid eye contact with us, though, I noticed. That alone would have been easy enough, but they were clearly trying to avoid it to the point where just turning in the direction of the beaker was impossible for them. I told Nakano to be proud we were able to fluster a pair of 600 m giant girls.

In the end, it seemed as though the class would end safely without any more issues. Yanase-senpai and Kamiya-senpai weighed the resulting chemical products each group made and, because of how simple the lab was, we thought there’d be no way we’d fail to meet the requirements.

“It looks like we have a lot of people who weren't within error~!” Yanase-senpai announced.

Overconfidence precedes carelessness.  Unfortunately, as it turned out, one-third of the girls ended up not noticing one of the trick questions in the lab. Messing up the units before converting in the calculations had been the error a lot of the girls had ended up doing. As a result, the error in a number of the groups’ results exceeded 10% by a large margin.

“No way. Are you telling me we’re all getting the penalty?” Hozuki couldn’t believe her luck for having succeeded in finishing the lab but failing to evade the penalty right at the end.

That was correct. The penalty was going to apply to both the boys and the girls. This was the first session where so many of us were going to get the penalty, my classmates were all in shock, the girls more so than the boys because they had been breezing through the entire day without issue.

So what was the penalty? Yanase-senpai handed it over to Kamiya-senpai to read.

“The two of us ended up pulling the tape penalty from the joint penalty box,” Kamiya-senpai revealed. She then explained how this would work for the girls. “If I recall correctly, the idea behind this would be putting the tape on the girls and pulling them off quickly.”

“As for the boys~ We’ll try sticking you in tape for a few seconds~!” Yanase-senpai detailed the penalty for the boys.

I grimaced. Tape? I had experience with being stuck to various things as of late, and none of them had been originally designed as adhesive. Tape, however, was. A single piece of tape was many times wider than we were tall. If we were stuck to something designed to cling to us, how would we be able to be peel off? I imagined it would be painful for the entire body.

At the very least, the first victims were the girls. We boys watched from within our beakers as the girls who messed up had tape put on them and then quickly peeled off. Unlike us who Kamiya-senpai promised to use normal tape for, the girls were victims of the power of duct tape. Both of my senpais were not gentle when tearing that off. 

“Kyaaa! My leg! It stings!” Nomiya squealed.

“Pya-hiiiiiiiiii~!” Tokiwa squeaked when the tape was torn off the back of her neck. 

“Uwaaaaaah! Mo-Mo-Mouth… Hurts...” Honda was in too much pain to continue speaking.

“G-Gyaaaah! T-T-That pulled a few hairs… O-ouch...” Hozuki tried to keep cool but couldn’t.

“-----------!” Yae couldn’t even speak. She was the victim of Yanase-senpai yanking the tape off her mouth just like Honda. 

I would’ve liked to see Takahashi get her just deserts, but she and Satou were among the groups who were within the margin of error. And to make matters worse, the fact that Honda and Yae were among the group of victims meant our group didn’t meet the requirement. We had been off by 23% apparently.

After the girls were done with their penalty, our time to watch ended, and then came our turn to become the victims.

Kamiya-senpai and Yanase-senpai collected all of us boys from their unsuccessful groups by pinching us out of the beakers we were in and dropping us all in the same beaker. We were shaken around while Senpai grabbed us all and then placed us on a clean lab table in the center of the room.

“Well, let’s see here~!” Yanase-senpai happily inspected us. “Eight boys, huh~? And Touya-kun, too~! Isn’t this going to be fun~?” 

“Emi-chan, please do not single Kirishima-kun out. You have been having too much fun today,” Kamiya-senpai tried to stop Yanase-senpai from getting too excited. “If you fool around too much, I will take you out of assisting the next session.”

“Eh~? That’d be so cruel, Nacchan~! I’ll be good, I promise~!”

Whatever the next session was, both of our senpais were looking forward to it. In any case, Kamiya-senpai was given the chance to take charge of our penalty. Whether or not that was a good thing, I became unsure when I saw Kamiya-senpai’s nervous expression looking down at us.

“Okay, boys. I will be starting now,” she told us as she plucked Arai from the beaker like a piece of candy. We looked through the glass to see her place him on the table and watched as she cut a piece of tape. “Here we go!”

If Arai was saying something before Kamiya-senpai applied the tape to him, we couldn’t hear him due to how far he was from us (which was 50 cm) and due to the thickness of the beaker. What we could see, however, was that Kamiya-senpai’s finger pushed him down and applied the tape immediately over him like a blanket. His body remained motionless while Kamiya-senpai used her fingernail to trace around his body, trying to flatten the tape properly.

“How long should it be, Emi-chan? Thirty seconds?”

“Mmhmm~” nodded Yanase-senpai. “I’ll peel them off, Nacchan, so keep going!”

At least it would be quick. Kamiya-senpai continued to take all of us out from the beaker and carefully stuck us to the table. I noticed all of the other girls were watching curiously and a few others were watching with concern.

“Hiroshi… Soz…,” Watanabe apologized while still rubbing her stinging arm.

“They’re just sticking them in whatever way they fall. Look, Yamabuki-kun’s all curled up,” Yoshikawa noted. 

“They’re so small, they hardly make an impression. Maybe we should get the magnifying glasses out,” I heard Takahashi remark.

“... Look like we’re doing a dissection…,” Yukimura mumbled. That did nothing to ease my nerves because Kamiya-senpai was clearly leaving me for last.

When it came to my turn, the other boys were done with their penalties and returned to the reduced classroom we had come into class in. I stood alone trapped by the fortress-sized glass walls of the beaker as Kamiya-senpai smiled down at me.

“Okay, Kirishima-kun, here it’s your turn,” she told me as her fingers descended. Senpai only needed her nails to pinch my body. She was gentle, having gotten used to handling us reduced boys throughout the week. I was lifted out and placed in front of her on the table. Looking up, I saw the piece of tape stuck to the finger. It was only the length of her finger nail, but it was the size of a tarp to me.

“I should probably get into a better position,” I realized what would be a good plan before I was plastered onto the table. I started to lie down, but I was not quick enough to compare to the speed that Senpai was moving at relative to me. The tape descended and her finger knocked me flat on my back. The next thing I saw was the opaque blanket before it covered me. My arms and legs had been spread out when I was knocked down. I was sealed in place by the sticky adhesive.

“Wow. Very Vitruvian Man of you, Kirishima-kun,” Senpai was impressed at the sight of how I had been taped down. I would have said something but my mouth was stuck to the tape as well. I could not move one bit. Was this how being vacuum sealed could be like? My entire body was firmly kept in place by the clingy material. Yukimura’s comparison came to my mind. Senpai looking down on me with the ceiling light far behind her indeed made my position look like I was going to be dissected.

Senpai used her nail to trace around my tiny 0.5 cm form, pushing out any stray air bubbles that weren’t around me and flattening the tape so there wouldn’t be any bumps other than where I was. I couldn’t even turn my head to follow her gigantic nail as it moved swiftly around me.

“Mmpf...” I tried to breathe with my mouth but that was impossible. This was worse than if somebody tried to cover me in plastic wrap. At least with plastic wrap, I could struggle a little. The tape was so strong to me, I couldn’t fight it.

“Wow… he’s just stuck there,” I heard Yae. I really was. I was too weak to fight even a piece of tape. If nobody was around, I doubted I’d be able to break free.

After thirty seconds passed, it was then Yanase-senpai’s turn to let me go. She peeled the tape off the table slowly. I braced myself for the stinging pain and the tearing of my clothes, but it was never that simple at a reduced size. I found myself lifted up along with the tape, stuck to it and still unable to move while Senpai dangled it in front of her with a smile.

“Fufu~n~. That’s the penalty game, Touya-kun~!” she was not going to be freeing me immediately. “I hope you enjoyed this session~! We’ll get you ready for lunch and then there will only be two sessions left~!”

Lunch? That sounded good. I could use a rest. I hoped there would be some time for Senpai to apply the cleaning balm on us guys as well. This tape was completely coating me and sticking to my skin.

To my dismay, however, Yanase-senpai did not peel the tape off me like she had done the other boys. Before I could think, her finger folded the piece of tape over. I could feel both sides of me completely covered by the adhesive as her thick, enormous fingertips pressed down on me, rolling me around the surface of her thumb.

“Mmppf! Mpff!” I struggled but I couldn’t do a thing as I was bound by the tape from all directions. What was Senpai doing?

The answer to that had been in what she said earlier.

“Here you go Yae-chan~!” Senpai had kept a part of the adhesive unused. I found myself dangling freely when she stuck my rolled up and taped body onto Yae’s fourth uniform button.

“Mmph! Mmff!” I couldn’t get a word out while swinging left and right by Yae’s chest. It was bouncing. I was bouncing. My body rose and feel meters in the air as Yae panicked, flustered from Yanase-senpai’s action.

Yae peeled me off as soon as she could and kept me in the middle of her sports field sized palm. “Senpai, you’re playing around way too much.”

“It’s fine, isn’t it~? Treat Touya-kun well for lunch, okay~? You’re in charge of him after all~!”

That was right. Yae was my caretaker. She had been given permission to have me with her instead of with the other guys for lunch. With my body rolled up in tape like a cocoon, I could do nothing, not even look up at Yae because my head was stuck facing down into her palm.

The day was almost over at least… right?

“Here, Asano. The food for Kirishima should be in here.”

“Thank you, Sensei… W-wow… I can’t even see anything...”

“He’ll see it. Just make sure to keep an eye on him. When he ends up in your stomach because you were teasing him or something,  I don’t want to hear any sniveling.”

“H-He won’t! I-I won’t!”

After Yae successfully unrolled me from my tape bindings (which required a lot of effort and the need to ask Watanabe because Yae’s nails weren’t fine enough to peel me off with ease), I was seated on Yae’s table atop a 100 yen coin so that Yae could easily find me.

I was not eating with the other guys who had been taken to a reduced cafeteria according to Kamiya-senpai, so Sasakura-sensei came to deliver a meal that would be suitable for someone my size. She gave Yae a small plastic bag, the type you’d use to hold a few screws or washers that would come with DIY packages. It seemed empty to Yae, but there was a 1 mm by 1 mm by 1 mm bento box inside apparently. Considering my height now, it was a large, knee-high multi-tier lunch box packed full of different foods. I was allowed my pick of whatever was inside.

I ate from the speck sized box in the shadow of the Tokyo Dome sized actual bento box Yae was eating from. 

“Touya, are you okay?” Yae asked as I ate a rice ball with tuna-mayo filling. “Sorry for getting you the penalty twice. It must be rough for you right now.”

I couldn’t reply considering Yae wouldn’t be able to hear my miniscule shouts, and Yae knew that. She was trying her best to treat me like she usually did, though with a far greater amount of concern because of how vulnerable I was now. I agreed it had been rough, which was why I was trying to get as much of my energy back from the meal I had been given.

That wasn’t going to be easy, however.

“Hey, Yaecchi, mind if we join you and Aoi for lunch?”

“Watanabe-san? Nomiya-san? Sure. Is Shiina-san not with you?”

“She went to see her boyfriend in 2-B. It’s just us two today.”

“Ah, can I join too?”

“Of course, Honda-san.”

“May I join too, Asano-san? I wanted to apologize about earlier so I rushed to the student store and bought you and Kirishima-kun a snack.”

“Class Rep, you didn’t have to… W-whoa! Is that the limited custard mille feuille? They only sell 30 of these per day!”

“Wow. We’re getting a big group here,” Takahashi remarked as she took a bite of a teriyaki and egg sandwich she had bought for lunch.

The fact of the matter was, with the other guys having been taken away to eat safely, I had ended up being the only boy left in class 2-D. Since I was in Yae’s care, the girls who were still curious about our situation approached her. A party was starting to form around Yae as the gyarus, Honda, Takahashi, and even our class Rep pushed their desks together to eat with her.

Their focus was definitely on me. With my size and presence having dropped thanks to being 0.46 cm tall now, I was the only reduced person in the room. The girls couldn’t fight their curiosity and came to chat with Yae and ask/inspect me.

When a bunch of girls gathered, it became boisterous. When a bunch of 700 m tall girls gathered, it was a thunderous commotion. It was difficult to keep a straight face under their all-seeing gazes.

“Eh? You can’t give it to him?”

“Sensei said he won’t be able to eat normal sized food. That’s why she came to give him his lunch since he’s with me.”

“Well, it’s not like he can eat something like that as he is now, but that’d be living the dream, wouldn’t it? A cake several times my size? I wouldn’t pass that up.”

“Hahaha! You’ll get fat, Aoi,” Watanabe laughed.

Yoshikawa tried to give me a slice of a cake she had bought to apologize for the third session. The fact that I was shorter than even the first layer of this parking garage sized sweet said plenty about what I could and couldn’t eat. Yoshikawa actually tried cutting a small chunk and putting it on a napkin next to me. Even that small chunk was three times my height. The custard gushed out like lava and the sickly sweet smell made me take a few steps back before Yae took it away, popping the building of a chunk into her mouth. She held back her blissful squeal from how good it tasted.

It was really sobering to see a cake many times my size disappear inside Yae’s mouth. It seemed more dangerous than the pill dissolving solution from the medicine making session. I shivered as I also remembered Akagi’s and Morino’s penalty.

“Kiri-shii’s staring,” Nomiya used her phone to see my reaction to Yae eating up the cake. “Yaecchi, I think he’s scared.”

“Scared? Why would that be?”

“Probably the fact that he’s not even bite-sized to you,” Takahashi explained exactly why I was feeling how I was.

“He IS smaller than a sprinkle,” Honda noted. “How small is he now? 5 millimeters?”

“4.6 actually and getting smaller,” Yae used the app on her phone to check my height. She stood up, put her hands on her hips, and looked down at me. “Are you actually scared of me, Touya?”

I was not going to answer that question. I was not even going to try reacting. I remained where I was on the 100 yen coin and just kept eating.

“No reaction at all,” Nomiya observed. “Wait… No, his legs are quivering like a flan.”

Curse Nomiya for using the zoom function. I glared at the building sized camera phone, but that only made the tanned gyaru giggle because she could see my flustered reaction.

Watanabe also got a laugh from looking at the screen. “Gyahaha~! That’s one helluva face. What a totally hilarious evil eye he’s giving us!”

“It’s cute seeing Kiri-shii try to act angry when he’s so small. He’s got guts,” Nomiya smirked.

“Pfft...” Even Yoshikawa was having trouble not laughing. 

For even the class rep to not be immune to laughter, my pride was being thrown into the incinerator. By acting indignant, I ended up being seen as adorable to them. Well, considering I was an ant trying to look fierce against a giant girl they probably knew my anger meant nothing. I had nothing to back it, so it only looked like I was pouting to them.

“Girls, don’t pick on Touya. He’s had a rough day today,” Yae tried to defend me. Her hand swept across the table and pulled the 100 yen coin I was on close to her. The momentum of how quickly she pulled me kept me going after she stopped, though. I flew off the coin and smacked into her chest. I thought it was by accident, but Yae’s hand followed, pushing me forcefully into her bosom. Even with the uniform in the way, I could feel the plush softness of Yae’s warm breast.

“Asano, I think that’s just making it more embarrassing for him,” Takahashi remarked. She changed her mind, however, when she looked at everyone else. “Wait, huh?”

“Aww… That’s nice. That’s our class’s ‘not-couple’ for you,” Yoshikawa commented.

“A heartwarming snapshot,” agreed Nomiya.

“To be so willing to do that to Kirishima-kun… Yae-chan, you’re admirable,” Honda put her hand to her own chest, apparently also wanting to do the same thing.

“Gah… I’m jealous. Maybe I should’ve gotten an exemption with Hiroshi...” Watanabe pouted regarding Arai.

It seemed picking on me wasn’t the main reason why the girls had come to Yae during lunch. Aside from Nomiya who was there for good photos and Yoshikawa who just wanted to apologize, Honda and Watanabe were very curious about the size difference dynamic Yae and I had been going through all week.

“Gyah!” I panicked for a moment when Yae’s fingers stopped pressing down on me. I expected to fall with nothing to hold me when after she let go. However, to my relief and chagrin, I discovered there was no need to hold on. Though it was still precariously narrow, I was small enough that could stand atop a wrinkle in Yae’s uniform without falling off.

This was something to tell the guys later. I was sidling about a wrinkle on Yae’s uniform, treating her massive bosom as an expansive mountain wall I was trying not to fall off of.

“Hm? Touya?” Yae checked her fingers, having expected to see me adhered to them

“Yae-chan, he’s still on your chest,” Honda pointed out.

“Uwah! Touya, stop clinging!” Yae’s embarrassedly rushed to get me off, but she couldn’t stay steady because she was flustered. In a single second, her body, her breast in particular, moved 3 cm forward. While that didn’t seem like much, Yae’s ever increasing size spelled plenty of astonishing surprises for me. I was close to 1/450th my normal height, meaning the speed of Yae’s breast’s motion was around a dozen meters per second. A mountain rammed into me at the speed of a slow car.

 “Waaaaah!” I flew off of Yae’s body and onto a white, bumpy surface. 

“A-Ah! Sorry, Touya!” Yae apologized as I was dazed from the impact.

“Uwoah… Nice landing, Kirishima-kun… That’s not a good place to be though,” I heard Takahashi’s voice while I struggled to pick myself up. 

Where was I? What was the white, bumpy surface I had fallen onto? Where else would I be? I grimaced when I paid close attention to the shape of the individual white objects that were clumped together beneath me.

Rice. I had fallen onto the rice side of Yae’s lunch. It was no wonder my hands and legs seemed to have trouble peeling away from the ground. The stickiness of the rice grains were keeping me on them. 

I really wasn’t in a good position. I was currently half the size of a grain of rice - half the size of those things Yae was neatly putting dozens of in her mouth with every bite earlier. I shivered when I turned my head to see a bitten piece of sweet and sour pork the size of a building next to the pile of rice. The bite mark was leviathan-level.

“He’s like a sesame seed,” Yoshikawa observed. “Asano-san, you should get him out of there now.”

“Right. Here we go Touya,” Yae said as she moved to get me out of her lunch box. I appreciated being able to leave, as there was no way I’d be able to scale the completely vertical walls of the box.

Still, I would have preferred if she didn’t use her chopsticks to free me. Yae couldn’t easily pick my body up alone so she took the grains of rice I was stuck to as well. The blood drained from my face as Yae didn’t move me onto the table but rose me higher and higher up into the air until I was level with her face.

“W-Wow, this is so surreal to see you on there,” Yae audiably gulped, keeping her other hand below where I was on the chopsticks in case I fell. Unfortunately, it reminded me of how she normally ate to prevent spilling while eating. Her hot breath battered me like a typhoon as the frightening cavern of her mouth opened to talk. “It’s really hard to believe that you’re that speck there, Touya.”

Speck, I grimaced. That was what she called me. That was what Yae was currently seeing me as. I did not like the sound of that, nor did I like being held just centimeters away from her mouth. Yae’s pink lips were each twice my height. I had thought about getting a full body kiss from Yae before, but definitely not in my current position on her food. Despite how plump and soft they looked, they parted as she spoke, opening up to the expansive cave of her mouth. I could see the vast surface that was her tongue. I was now small enough to be able to walk around on it with room to spare. It unnerved me to be able to see the darkness in the back of her mouth. Akagi and Morino had given me a sample of this experience earlier today but being stuck to actually food made things all the more terrifying.

And unfortunately, after she realized how Yae was holding me, a cat-like smile formed on Takahashi’s mouth. “Y’know, Asano, it looks like you’re about to eat him. I’ll bet you he’s scared out of his mind right now.”

Yoshikawa agreed. “He’s one step away from a one-way trip into Asano-san’s stomach. If you didn’t know he was there, you’d have eaten him, right?”

“Class Rep, that’s a scary thought. Could he even survive being in someone’s stomach?” Honda wondered. “I heard Sensei earlier. She seemed calm enough to treat it lightly, but still...”

“He’ll be fine. Yaecchi, how about giving him a bigger scare? I want to take a picture,” Nomiya had an idea for an interesting photo.

“Ooh. That sounds fun, Minami,” Watanabe agreed with Nomiya. “Yaecchi, how about opening wide?”

This girls’ talk was moving in the wrong direction. Their suggestions and ideas that they were vocalizing were painting nightmarish images in my head. Even though I was right there, they weren’t even looking in my direction as they talked about treating me as though I was a plaything. I supposed my ability to refuse had shrunken along with me. I also couldn’t deny that there were a lot fewer inhibitions for the girls to mess with something smaller than a bug.

I hoped Yae wouldn’t cave to peer pressure but it was clear she wasn’t going to reject the idea.

“Like this? Aaaah~n!”

I opened my mouth to shout but it was eaten up by Yae’s echoing voice. Yae’s mouth opened wide and she brought the clump of rice I was stuck on inside. The light atmosphere of the bright and open classroom disappeared as my surroundings became dark and damp the moment I passed Yae’s lips. I narrowly avoided brushing against Yae’s white teeth, each over twice my height, as I passed beneath their guillotine-like presence. 

The air suddenly became thick and humid as my body was hit by oppressive fog of saliva. Yae’s breath had a sickeningly sweet smell because she had just had several bites of her mother’s sweet and sour pork. The aroma of the sauce lingered and pierced my nose.

“This is… Yae’s mouth…,” I broke out in a cold sweat as I looked around while trapped on the clump of rice. Yae’s tongue was stretched out beneath me, actually touching the clump of rice I was on. If Yae loosened the grip on her chopsticks, I’d fall onto it. I looked behind me and saw the back of Yae’s teeth and the light of the classroom outside. I really was in a cave, and Yae’s mouth was the only exit. It was blurry and out of focus due to how far it was to me now, but I believed I saw Yoshikawa’s worried yet curious face looking in.  

Drip.

To my dismay, a stream of saliva fell from the ceiling, or rather, the roof of Yae’s mouth. The clump of rice and I narrowly missed being drenched in it by mere millimeters on Yae’s scale. I wanted to pull my body tight together to guard myself from further danger, but breaking free from the sticky glutinous rice was impossible.

Lick.

“Gyaaah!” I was one step away from soiling myself when Yae’s tongue curled. It licked the underside of the rice clump and I saw it fly past my vision for an instant. This was too much. I did not want to be literally eaten by Yae. I didn't even want to think about what would happen if something went wrong.

My excruciatingly long stay being held in Yae’s mouth was only 10 seconds. Yae took me out and returned me to the table where she then used the chopsticks to separate me from the rice grains. I landed face first on the table and did not move. My legs had given out.

“I’m just kidding, Touya. I wouldn’t eat you,” Yae told me with a smile. She had enjoyed that.

“Wow. You actually did it,” Takahashi raised an eyebrow. “I’m impressed. It wasn’t as erotic as I thought it’d be.”

“I’m not sure how you’d be able to construe that as erotic, Aoi-san,” Honda pinched the bridge of her nose. “It looked like regular eating to me.”

“Well, it must have been quite something for Kirishima-kun,” Yoshikawa stated. “He’s not getting up.”

That drew Yae’s concern. “Touya, are you okay?”

Physically, yes. 

“I think we freaked him out too much there...” Watanabe remarked.

“Ehehe... Maybe we crossed the line…,” Nomiya agreed.

“Let’s… change the subject, okay?” Honda suggested.

Watanabe agreed. “Ah, right. Yaecchi, I wanted to ask you about what you two got up to at home.”

“Eh?”

I was thankful for that. After those fearful 10 seconds, it was Yae’s turn to receive all the attention. I was allowed to go back to my 100 yen coin while Honda, Takahashi, and Watanabe started asking her various questions. 

The girls to start directing their attention to Yae instead of me gave me a chance to rest. Yae was doing her best honestly answering the girls’ questions but she froze up every time something too personal was asked. She nearly had a few meltdowns trying to fight her honest nature when Takahashi asked about baths and when Watanabe asked about our sleeping together. Honda’s question about kissing threw her for a loop as well.

It sure was something being amongst giants eating and talking. Now that they weren’t directing their attention to me, it felt like I was just eavesdropping on their conversation. After all, listening was all I could do. I couldn’t comment or take part in their interrogation of Yae. I wouldn’t even be a part of their talk unless they turned their attention to me because I was under their notice, in the shadows of the bento boxes, phones, drink cans and bottles, and unwrapped food wrappers they left on the tables.

That didn’t mean I wasn’t involved with the shenanigans that came with being around the giant girls, though.

“Hey, Kiri-shii. Can I get a few rare shots of you?” Nomiya asked, or rather, demanded. She hadn’t asked me earlier so she missed several good shots apparently. She was so bright-eyed and forward, pushing her face so close to the table that her breath blew me back, that I couldn’t exactly refuse. What kind of pictures did Nomiya want? Of course, she wanted ones that compared my size to numerous things.

She started simple, holding the 100 yen coin up with one finger to see that I was around 1/5th of its diameter. Our class representative also grew curious as to what the gyaru was doing and joined in as well. She was more curious about my condition than Yae’s embarrassing stories.

“Nomiya-san, please be careful. If that falls on him, it looks like it’d crush him,” Yoshikawa warned. While I would definitely survive considering all I’d been through today, that would be one heck of a way to go: ‘Death by money’, literally.

After the 100 yen coin, Nomiya wanted a selfie with me in her hand. I didn’t mind at all, but she was trying to be stealthy while Yae was covering her face in embarrassment from Honda’s, Takahashi’s, and Watanabe’s questions.

“Muu… Not as good as I thought.” Unfortunately, I was too small to be clearly in focus in the picture. Nomiya pouted and chased me around her palm with her finger.

“Nomiya-san, how about a picture of that? Your finger versus Kirishima-kun might be good,” Yoshikawa suggested.

Nomiya took the class rep’s advice. Nomiya’s decorated nail, sparkling with glitter, was over twice my height. That was before even mentioning the rest of her pinky finger. 

“Class Rep, you’ve got good taste,” Nomiya gave her a thumbs up. 

Nomiya wasn’t satisfied yet though, she wanted more photos. She and Yoshikawa continued to think of ideas as to how to best highlight my size. A picture of me sitting atop a house sized eraser, a shot of me balancing on the class rep’s nail while held in front of her face, a photo of me leaning against a cherry tomato that was threatening to roll in my direction - there were plenty of ideas in their heads. Nomiya put me on the edge of her opened tea bottle and I nearly fell in. She even tried getting a video of me trying to walk along Yoshikawa’s arm but was unsatisfied due to how slow I was moving. I objected to being put on the floor to be compared to Yoshikawa’s slipper, but I couldn’t fight Nomiya’s fingers. Even she was impressed that the Safety Sole alone was way above my head.

“You’re the best, Kiri-shii,” Nomiya thanked me while looking through the photos. “But even after all this, there’s still one more picture I want to take.”

“One more? You’re still not satisfied, Nomiya-san?” the class representative asked the same thing I was wondering. “Don’t tell me these are too restrained to you.”

“No, I’m not going for exposure. I don’t wanna do something that’d make Yaecchi angry,” Nomiya shook her head.

“So what is it?”

The answer to that question came quickly. Nomiya brought me to the custard mille feuille that Yae had yet to finish eating. Instead of putting me on the styrofoam holding it or next to a chunk of it, however, she brought me to the very top.

“Perfect,” Nomiya smiled, readying her camera. “I didn’t get a chance to take a picture of the cake and Kiri-shi earlier. He totes looks like a sprinkle.”

“That makes me wonder. Is this clean? Kirishima-kun is literally stepping on the food.”

Though Nomiya and the Class Rep shared a laugh, it was not funny to me. Being back on a piece of food was unnerving.  I had still been shrinking over the course of lunch and now I was 0.40 cm. I was a flat 4 mm tall. The dessert Nomiya had put me on was decorated with lines of chocolate sauce that were knee high to me. I could walk around the flat top of the pastry and approached the edge. In the distance, I saw Nomiya standing getting her camera ready.

“Alright, Kiri-shii. Say cheese!” she told me. “Class Rep, you should’ve bought a cheesecake. That would’ve been perfect.” 

“I’m not in support of that sort of wordplay,” Yoshikawa giggled.

I was going to be grateful when this photoshoot was over. My current place on the cake really did make me understand why I couldn’t eat regular sized food. Just one layer of the pastry was thicker and harder than a concrete wall to me. There would be no way I’d be able to break off even a crumb let alone bite something that was harder than the rock in my current state.

Thankfully, photos were simple to take. After taking a few and being satisfied with what she got, Nomiya sat back down and showed Yoshikawa and myself the picture. You could hardly make out my form on the cake, but she had gotten one shot that actually had me in focus.

“I’ll send these to you later, Kiri-shii,” Nomiya smiled. “Class Rep, you want some copies too?”

“Sure. Um… Hold on. Let me give you my contact info.”

The Class Rep took out her phone and began sharing with the tanned gyaru. I was impatiently waiting to be removed from the cake, but upon seeing how close Nomiya and the Class Rep had gotten, the noise level of the group grew.

“Oh? You’re exchanging numbers? Let me join in too,” Watanabe interrupted.

“Oh? Shino-non, you are done interrogating Yaecchi?”

“Mhmm. I’m so jealous!” the gyaru said with a bright smile. “If I knew this ahead of time, I would’ve tried getting that exemption.”

“You’re really bold, Watanabe-san,” Honda returned to her seat and packed away her finished lunch. “Wanting to have your boyfriend stay over at your place while tiny… My face is turning red just imagining that.”

“Watanabe’s a bit more pure than Asano, actually, so it wouldn’t be that bad,” Takahashi hypothesized, picking up her can of soda for a drink. “Actually, Honda, just who are you imagining? You don’t have a boyfriend.”

“I-I’ll pass on answering that...”

Yae’s interrogation had ended, so the other girls came back to their seats. They seemed to have finished their meals while they were talking. Honda, Takahashi, and Watanabe seemed satisfied with what they were able to pry out of Yae.

The girl in particular slumped in her chair, exhausted. She had been overloaded with embarrassment. Takahashi’s teasing, I could understand, but the bombardment of questions from Honda and Watanabe must have been crazy. 

“Yaecchi, you look like death warmed over,” remarked Nomiya. “Need a break?”

“Of course I do,” Yae groaned. “Can’t a girl get some privacy?”

“It’s your fault for being the honest type, Asano-san,” Yoshikawa giggled.

That was when the danger returned. I didn’t even see her pick it up, but Yae had a spoon in her hand. She was ready to have her dessert in order to get some sugar and relax. I saw it descend upon the parking structure sized mille feuille as Yae silently started to eat her dessert. To the other girls, she made no sound as the enormous plastic spoon sliced the ground I was on. It was like the earth split in two. I never expected such an apocalyptic scene. 

“Yae? Oh no… I’ve got to get off!” I knew I had to escape. I was on the part of the cake Yae was going to pick up with the spoon. I could feel the ground beneath me tilt as the spoon pushed against the pastry. Escaping, unfortunately, was impossible. I didn’t realize it earlier, but the chocolate I had stepped on clung to me like tar. My 0.4 cm body couldn’t move quickly enough, and even if I could move, Yae’s dexterous movements were too fast for me to keep up with. The cut piece of the cake I was on was lifted up towards Yae’s mouth.

“Aah~n!” I heard as Yae opened her mouth. I balked. I was going back in. Only this time, Yae was completely unaware I was on her cake.

“Huh?” Nomiya noticed and paled the moment she saw. “Wait, Yaecchi!”

“Yae!” I shouted.

Chomp!

“Hm…?” It was too late. Yae already closed her mouth around the spoon. I couldn’t finish even calling Yae’s name as her mouth closed around me. I was plunged into darkness as the spoon holding the cake slipped out of Yae’s closed mouth, dropping the cake I was on onto her tongue.

“Yae! Nomiya! Hey, Takahashi! Someone help!” I shouted, but my voice was drowned out by the sloshing and smacking sounds of Yae’s tongue. It wasn’t moving, but I could not see what was going on at all. With Yae’s mouth closed, it was too dark.

But even without my sight, I could still tell what was going on. Yae’s saliva was enveloping the cake and me. I could feel the thick layers of the mille feuille get eaten away by just Yae’s spin. I was thankful not to hear or feel any movement from her teeth. She was not chewing, but that in itself was frightening enough. Was Yae going to just swallow the piece of cake whole? Would it be a good idea to try to crawl away from the cake and hope I could get stuck in her teeth? Adrenaline surged as my survival instincts screamed at me to find a way to survive.

But of course, I couldn’t do anything even I wanted to. Yae’s saliva covered me as much as it did the cake. While I wasn’t softening or being broken down by it as easily as the now damp cake, my body was soaked, weighed down, and stuck to Yae’s tongue by the viscous spit. All I could do was hope for divine intervention.

And it came in the form of the other girls. 

“Blech...” Yae uttered as she spit out the cake. My ears were overloaded from the volume of Yae’s voice while inside of her mouth as she opened it. I found myself tumbling along with the cake. I fell out. Yae had spat the piece of cake out onto the cover of her bento box.

“Is he there?” I heard as someone’s head blocked out the light from above.

“Yes. I see him stuck in there. Urgh...He’s covered in spit.”

“That was close. I don’t know what would have happened if we were a second too late.”

“I know we joked about it earlier but this time… Sheesh...”

“Touya! Hold on, I’ll get you out.”

Yae attempted to use her spoon to break me free. She separated me from the glob of spat up cake, but I was still in a pool of her saliva. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t move.

“Gross. He’s stuck… I’m sorry about that, Yaecchi… Kiri-shii...”

“I nearly ate Touya… Oh god… I can’t believe it…”

“H-Hey, now. He’s safe. A little... disgustingly soaked but safe,” Takahashi tried to calm Yae down. “It was an accident, but nothing happened in the end.”

“Y-yeah…” Yae tried to accept this but had trouble coming to terms.  “Sasakura-sensei said it as a joke earlier, but I can’t believe it happened...”

Cough.

“Oh my. So it did happen like I expected?” 

I could see every one of the girls snap their necks in the direction of the voice. The school nurse showed up behind the, without having even made a sound.

“Kyaa! Sasakura-sensei? W-What are you doing here again?” Yae stuttered, surprised by her sudden appearance.

“Lunch is almost over, girls,” she started. “I thought this would be around the time where Kirishima got into trouble, maybe got himself eaten.”

“You say that like it’s a normal thing. Couldn’t we have killed Kirishima-kun?” Honda was worried about why our school nurse was so blase about my near death experience.

Apparently, it was because it was actually normal. Sensei opened her lab coat to reveal several different items inside. “This ends up happening on occasion, actually, even in the workforce. I have plenty of medicines from emetics to laxatives if worse comes to worse.”

“Eme-” “Laxa-” The girls all grimaced. There were two ways I would’ve been getting out of her stomach, and neither one was clean. 

Sensei wasn’t finished with her explanation, though. “Actually, we also have a failsafe built into the original Reduction. It’s rather specific, but it is set for if someone’s about to be eaten.”

“Eh? There’s such a thing?” Yoshikawa was surprised as much as the rest of the girls.

“If it were to actually have happened, Kirishima would’ve grown a bit before he went down your throat.I would have been more worried about Asano choking than Kirishima being digested,” Sasakura-sensei remarked. “Well, since the failsafe didn’t activate, there’s nothing to worry about. Asano’s not gagging thanks to having Kirishima in her throat, and I don’t even have to bring him back to the machine to shrink him again.”

“So Touya would have been safe...?” Yae was still shaken from what she had nearly done to me. She was also touching her neck with both hands in response to the image Sensei detailed of choking on me. It was in poor taste of her to describe it, but Sensei had stopped Yae’s panic.

Sensei put her hand on Yae’s shoulder and spoke calmly to reassure her. “Asano. Trust me when I say that Reduction is safe. Why do you think I let him join you in the first place? We saw this coming from a million light-years away.”

“You seriously expected this?” Watanabe was skeptical.

“If there weren’t failsafes for all of the troubles of a reduced person, we’d be in a legal nightmare. I let the health committees girls come up with penalty games for crying out-loud,” Sensei groaned, imagining the lawsuits.

So that was why it was allowed. The bare minimum of safeties had been ensured for us all. I would have appreciated more, though, considering I’d been stepped on and almost eaten more than once now today.

“Well, this was at least getting off lightly, I’m leaving a sesame seed-sized kid around a bunch of hungry girls during an open period like lunch. There’s a lot of other stuff you could’ve done to him in that time,” Sensei crossed her arms. “Can you guess what more degenerate girls would do around this time when a reduced boy’s at their mercy?”

None of us wanted to hazard a guess but we had our ideas. A number of the girls were flustered by what their imaginations pictured.

“Exactly. So don’t get so disheartened about nearly doing something bad by accident. I’m willing to bet Kirishima’s been through stuff just as rough this week anyways. Asano’s probably punished him at least once.”

“Er… Well...” Yae couldn’t deny that.

I couldn’t deny that either, but I at least wanted to say that this had been up there in my top ten traumatic experiences. Sensei continued trying to talk Yae out of her stupor and console her until she properly calmed down. The other girls as well listened intently, having played some part in what had happened to me. They seemed a little embarrassed that the remainder of the girls who were also eating in the classroom were looking their way, but they accepted fault.

“Alright. Are we good?”

“Yes, Sensei,” the girls answered in unison.

“Good,” Sensei smiled, having done a proper job as the school nurse. I would have preferred it if she had freed me from Yae’s saliva first though. The entire time she had been talking to the girls, I was still covered in the sticky spit. It was only now that she was done that she turned her proper attention to me.

“Wah!” I uttered as Sensei plucked me out of the pool of saliva.

“Actually, Asano, Kirishima, I came here to also pick you two up,” she informed us. “Kirishima, we’ll clean you up and everything, so don’t you worry, alright, kiddo? As for you, Asano, we’ve got a job for you as a caretaker.”

“A job?”

“Get your gym clothes and go meet Okazaki in the gym. Those girls should’ve finished setting up by now.”

I groaned. This was the session Okazaki, Kamiya-senpai, and Takahashi had been looking forward to. Lunch was ending. After the chaos had been diffused by Sasakura-sensei, she reminded us that there was still more to go. We were supposed to get ready for the fifth session. 

As Sensei held me carefully in her hand, I could only hope this wouldn’t be as dangerous as what I had just been through.

I wasn’t in a state where I could ask Sensei what the bottle was, of course. My bigger concern anyways was my damp uniform she had washed me in. That was when Sensei brought something to me, being very careful as her nail was a wide plain for the items to be scattered on. I was surprised to see she had a reduced uniform to give me. Much to my chagrin, she included a pair of boxers as well.

“You can get changed yourself, kiddo. Here, let me give you some privacy,” Sensei told me before inverting an empty coffee mug and putting it over me. It was dark, but I was given the opportunity to change, and change I did. After all was done, she placed me onto her palm and started to take me to our destination.

As Sensei had told Yae earlier to get her gym clothes, I knew we were going to the gymnasium which had been reserved all day for the program. Kamiya-senpai had been hard at work putting something together all week and spent most of today out of class to set things up in the gymnasium. She had to have been busy considering the previous session was led by her as well. This time though, Okazaki was amongst the health committee members who were leading the session. I did not have a good feeling regarding that. My underclassman was… an idiot, if I was putting it bluntly.

“Sorry about all this, Kirishima,” Sensei sighed. “I’d love to rein those girls in further, but there’s enough paperwork to do as is with this program. And the guys in the committee are all worried about being targeted later. Apparently, the girls will hold back for the future sessions as long as they get their fill now.”

I accepted Sensei’s apology for not being able to give me much support. I was going to have to get some payback from the guys who martyred me for their own safety though. I contemplated keeping a revenge notebook with a list of all of the people I was feeling vindictive about. Then again, Takahashi’s name would probably keep showing up.

Still, Session 5’s name was apparently called Observable Reduction Life. The name alone was curious enough.

According to Sensei, this session was going to be moderately relaxing for the boys because there wasn’t going to be much of an objective outside of exploring. I wondered what Sensei meant because my current size was still 0.40 cm as it had been after lunch, and I was well aware I was going to keep getting smaller because we hadn’t reached the final height yet. We wouldn’t be going very far inside the gymnasium. Heck, as much as it pained me to admit it, something like Yae’s running shoe would already be big enough to take the whole period to explore at our size.

“This is honestly more of a lesson for the girls than you boys. It will put things into proper perspective for the girls who haven’t made the realization yet,” Sensei told me. “In any case, we should give you some time to get adjusted before they arrive.”

Adjusted, Sensei, said. What were we adjusting to? Sensei was still beating around the bush despite me being unable to say anything back while sitting in her sports field sized palm.

Well, I quickly learned when she entered the gym.

“Okazaki. Kamiya.”

“Ah! Sensei’s here! Does that mean what I think it means?”

“Sasakura-sensei, I take it that you have brought Kirishima-kun over?”

“Of course. He’s all good to go. Where do you want him?”

“Put him in my district, Sensei. That’s number 3. Nishishishi~.”

“Nao-chan, please refrain from smiling like that. It looks rather unbecoming of you.”

The simplest manner to describe what Session 5 was about would be to call it a city. That was right. All of the reduced buildings we had seen throughout the past few days had told us that the government was capable of making small buildings that suited our reduced sizes. What I never expected was for there to be an entire district to be in our gymnasium however. In fact, there were 6 of them.

6 separate city district’s worth of buildings were fenced in by panes of glass roughly 60 cm high each. Okazaki’s District 3 looked to be a 3 km x 3 km area reduced to fit a 7 m x 7 m square in the gymnasium. Sensei stepped over the glass fence and carefully lowered me onto a hill in a green park area.

“So where is everyone?” I wondered as I looked around. The park was empty from what I could see, so the other guys had to be elsewhere. I didn’t immediately start searching, however, as I was more focused on understanding my new surroundings. 

So this was the fifth session. I could see why Okazaki and the others had been so excited for it and why Kamiya-senpai had been hard at work all week. This was a legitimate city district. Besides the park, I could see city streets, alley ways, residence buildings, apartment buildings, and offices. In the center of it all was an extremely tall skyscraper as well. It resembled the Sunshine 60 in Ikebukuro, though the entire area clearly wasn’t Ikebukuro.

Everything had been neatly arranged and set up to look like a proper city district without any mistakes in the model. Kamiya-senpai’s dexterity and skill was praiseworthy. It was like somebody had taken an entire city and shrunk it to fit in the classroom. I wouldn’t have been surprised if that actually was the case, but how new and clean everything looked told me this had been designed just for the Reduction Program.

What was more eye-catching, however, was the 60 cm tall glass wall around us. It was actually taller than the mock-Sunshine 60 dominating the cityscape, probably close to 300 m tall in appearance from what I could hazard as a guess if the tower was 240 m like the actual Sunshine 60. It surrounded us and separated us from the actual gymnasium. On the other side of the glass, I could see the endless plain of the gymnasium floor stretching into the horizon. It was difficult to make out the other districts far out in the distance. I couldn’t see where the floor ended and the walls began because everything seemed so distant now. I couldn’t even consider the gymnasium ceiling a ceiling anymore. It was high up enough that it’d be a sky in its own right. 

Though Sensei had told me this session was for the girls to gain perspective, I was taking further notice of how big everything was now that there was a clear distinction. The translucent glass was the divide between the reduced city and the normal sized world.

And then came the girl in charge of our district.

Craaaaaash!

“Se~!~n~!~pa~!~i~!”

I nearly fell over when the ground shook. I snapped my head in the direction of the powerful sing-song-ing voice overhead. I looked up… and up… and up... 

“Okazaki…,” my 145 cm tall underclassman in gym clothes was smiling while standing on the other side of the glass. The glass barrier didn’t even reach her thighs. She was looking at me as though I were an animal on display, which, considering the arrangement of the glass, wasn’t too far from the truth.

“Nishishishishi~,” Okazaki laughed while unfastening a lock on the glass fence. She opened up the fence and stepped into the city area. She remained on the sleek gymnasium floor, but she got as close as she could to the actual city. Her white and blue running shoes alone were the size of multi-story buildings, and she herself dwarfed every tower in the reduced city. “I’ve been looking forward to this, Senpai. How do you like me now? I’m a Super Mega-sized Nao-jira! Ga~o~!”

The playful roar wasn’t necessary. The ‘super mega’ was important for her to add. After all, normal kaiju would easily be stepped on by her like bugs. We, on the other hand, were specks. It was more worrying when Okazaki briefly lifted her foot high up in the air. To be able to see the underside of her shoe was more than worrying, but she thankfully didn’t drop it anywhere on the district.

“Well, this puts things into perspective,” I realized having something my scale to compare the girls with was much more effective at letting me see how large they would be if we were normal sized. The high rise buildings didn’t even reach her ankles. The only thing worth challenging her height was the mock-Sunshine 60, and even that was dwarfed by her legs.

Okazaki continued to give me a clear idea of the scale difference. I could see she was holding things between her fingers, each about a die. She was playing with them around haphazardly. Then, she began to move.

“W-Whoa...” I was still not used to the shaking of being on the floor while the giant girls moved. Okazaki was only bending down slowly, but the entire city set up bowed to the movements.

“Pfft! Did I knock you down, Senpai?” chuckled Okazaki as she placed one of the die sized objects at the base of the park hill I was on. Her enormous hand had descended from above and placed a house in the park. Okazaki continued doing this until the flat greenery at the bottom of the hill was covered by half a dozen identical two story houses. “What do you think? Isn’t it amazing? Kamiya-senpai ended up putting together all of these districts. They were actually bigger earlier this week too. When I heard about this session, I was so excited for it! I always wanted to be bigger than everything!”

I was more impressed by the fact that Okazaki had basically created a neighborhood in a few seconds. Were we really so small that houses could fit in her hand like used erasers? It brought to mind one of those life simulation games where the player could build the houses and even cities for their characters to live in. We were the game characters having our world influenced by the player known as Nao Okazaki. I hoped she wasn’t the type to remove pool ladders or turn on all of the disasters at once.

Thankfully, there were apparently a lot of regulations for this session. That was apparently why there were a fair number of health committee members and Yae around.

“Okazaki, why are you putting down those houses? I said those were extras,” 2-A’s health committee representative, Asahina, walked over from District 2 and stopped in front of the glass fence to scold Okazaki. She pushed up her glasses and gave as good of a glare as she could.

It wasn’t very effective against my underclassman. “It’s my district, Senpai. And don’t think I didn’t notice you taking that water bottle earlier. You want to add a river to your park, don’t you?”

“T-That’s… There’s a perfect spot for it, you know?” Asahina couldn’t defend herself.

“You two, please try not to mess up the models yet,” Kamiya-senpai approached after hearing the conversation. “We spent so long making them and transporting them into the gym. At least keep them in perfect condition for now. Give the 2-D girls a chance and hold off until class starts.”

Only until the start? I had hoped Kamiya-senpai would rein in Okazaki more, but she sounded like she acknowledged there’d be damage. Well, I couldn’t argue that it would probably be easy for any of the girls to take a step into the reduced city and knock things over. It seemed to me like these girls had full ownership of their district.

In any case, it seemed that before the girls from 2-D came after changing, we would be given a full explanation from the health committee members in charge of each district. In District 1, Yanase-senpai was with Saeki, and in District 2 was Kamiya-senpai and Asahina. I couldn’t see the other side of the gym where Districts 4-6 were, but I was told District 4 had Akagi and Morino, District 5 had Takahashi working with an upperclassman, and District 6 had a freshman and upperclassman I didn’t know very well. There were two people per district.

For the person who would be working with Okazaki, I was thankful to see, was Yae. It made sense because she was my caretaker. Clad in her gym uniform, exposing her peach legs which rose up into the sky, was my 700 m childhood friend. She stepped into the fenced area and waved at where Okazaki pointed out I was. I just stayed still and stared until the girls started doing their job in informing us.

“Alright, Senpai,” Okazaki started reading from a printed sheet of paper with a lot of pep. “This is Observable Reduction Life. This is an important session for both boys and girls to go through because at this point in the day, the changing scales becomes blatantly obvious.”

Okazaki then handed the paper to Yae to keep reading. “Um… Reduction should be wrapping up for the boys, so this should be the final spurt. Over the course of this session, you will almost reach minimum height because you’ll get a burst shrink soon. Your duty in this session is to explore the model city designed for Reduced-Size Living while taking in your change in size.”

Yae handed it back to Okazaki for her to finish reading. “Okay! These districts are rest areas made as recreation for employees stuck at a company for too long and need to get some fresh air for a moment. Please enjoy the miniature indoor park and free free to try out any of the buildings and facilities. Of course, they’re all free.”

That did sound nice and relaxing. I wondered what was around the district. If there was an arcade, I could wager a guess where the rest of the guys in this district were.

“Ah, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a quota,” unfortunately, Okazaki didn’t stop. “On the top floor of the biggest building of each district is a box with ID badges on them. Please make sure to get them one of them before the session is over.”

That sounded like a simple quota, but having gone through 4 other sessions thus far, I knew I was going to have a more difficult one. What was it going to be?

Yae interrupted to let me know. “Ah, Touya. You don’t have to worry about a bigger challenge. Kamiya-senpai said being with Okazaki-chan is difficult enough. And I’m allowed to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t do anything bad.”

“Eh? I didn’t hear anything like that! That’s so mean!”

Pffft!

I couldn’t resist laughing when I saw Okazaki’s shocked expression. That was good to know, at least. Not having to deal with a bigger challenge eased my nerves. I would be free to explore with my main goal only being visiting the tallest building once. The district wasn’t too large and the park so I didn’t have to rush it. I still would though, knowing my luck in getting stuck with penalty games when the girls were directly involved.

In any case, I decided to get started as soon as I could. Yae gave me a wave before I started to look around. I spotted the exit to the park and descended the hill in the opposite direction of where Okazaki had placed the new houses. I wanted to see if I could find anyone else or even get to the building before the rest of the class came. 

It wasn’t that hard to find them thankfully.

“Just like I thought.”

“Touya-kun!” Eguchi waved while standing in front of what looked like an arcade. I spotted another familiar person inside testing his strength with a punching machine. Considering there were 6 districts, there being only 3 of us made sense given the total number of boys in class. There were probably 2-3 of us in each district. It was nice to know I was with people I got along with. I wondered if this arrangement was by chance or planned. 

“I knew if there was an arcade I’d find somebody. Of course it’d be you two,” I chuckled as I ran over. There was no need to worry about traffic in an empty city while crossing the road.

“Sup, Kiri,” Ryou greeted me after setting a record on the punching machine. He had taken off his blazer and swung it over his shoulder when he walked away from the game. “I shoulda’ known it’d be you when it was just ta’ two of us.”

“I take it you all were brought over right after lunch? That explains why you were here already. That also explains the things around your neck,” I noted the lanyard and ID card around both of their necks. They had already been to the top of the tallest building.

“Yeah. We went and got ‘em before things start gettin’ rough,” affirmed Ryou. He started to frown though because he felt empty handed. “I woulda’ got yours, but it’s one per person, unfortunately. They got locks and sensors all around the place. Sorry ‘bout that.”

I had a feeling things wouldn’t be that easy.

Eguchi gave me a pat on the back. “Well, it’s no problem, Touya-kun. There’s an elevator to the top so it is actually not a challenge at all. We might as well escort you there because the view is really something to write home about.”

“You wanna get goin’ back up? Sure, why not,” Ryou shrugged. “But Kiri, for the escort service, you’re payin’ us back by distractin’ those girls of yours when the time comes, ‘kay?”

I didn’t appreciate being thrown under the bus, but I knew I’d probably be their only targets anyways. I accepted. “Sure, but if Tsujimoto comes calling, that’s on you. And Eguchi, I am not protecting you from Yukimura.”

“Nah, I doubt she’d do anythin’,” our rough-around-the-edges friend dismissed my words.

“Grk..,” the pretty boy sweated. “That at least means I’ll get help for the other three, right?”

“We’ll see.”

With that, my solo exploration of the city became a group trip. Considering Ryou and Eguchi had been exploring for ten minutes longer than me, they hadn’t seen too much because they had focused on getting to the mock-Sunshine-60 building first. As such, all three of us ended up acting a lot like tourists looking at the sights.

There really were many things to do in the reduced district. Besides the arcade which had several game machines all powered by some hidden generator, we passed by a fully equipped gymnasium, a karaoke lounge, and several restaurants. I was curious about the restaurants, but from what we could see, they just had the food stocked up and sealed tight until we came in to grab a bite. I wondered if there were any department stores or shops around, but there weren’t. Okazaki’s comment on things being free came to mind. Of course the government wouldn’t be that generous as to let us have free reign of expensive goods. Curiously, there was a library and a manga cafe but they both had an ‘e-’ in front of both. I supposed e-books prevented theft as well.

Still, it was, to quota Yae, very surreal exploring. We were just three guys walking through what was pretty much a deserted city district. There were no signs of life: no footsteps of crowds of pedestrians, no ringings of cellphones and nonsensical conversations of random strangers, no bicycles or cars riding by us. There wasn’t even any litter on the ground. It honestly felt a little spooky.

“Fufufu~n. Touya, I can see you from over here.”

“Senpai found the others it looks like. I think they already met the quota, though.”

“Oh, so it’s only Touya left? I guess they’re helping him out.”

“Maybe I can help him too. Nishishishi~.”

“Okazaki-chan. No.”

“Aww… Well, fine. Senpai, good luck! If you don’t hurry up, things’ll get real tough soon.”

The thing preventing this from truly feeling like a ghost town was the constant presence around us. Yae and Okazaki were keeping an eye on us while seated within the glass fence. We could hear their conversation no matter how far away we moved from them because, in the end, we weren’t any further than 7 m away from them. The two girls, even while seated, loomed over us and all of the high-rise buildings in the shrunken district. Even with their butts planted on the floor, they were still taller than the one building in District 3 that pierced the skyline too. 

Actually, I noticed there was more space between the glass fencing and the edge of the city compared to when Sensei originally put me down. 

“We’re definitely getting smaller,” I confirmed when I looked down at the Tracer Belt. I was now 0.35 cm. 3.5 mm… so I lost half a millimeter in the time it took us to go from the arcade to the skyscraper. That was around 12% of my height since the start of the session. The entire city, also being reduced to match our scale and reduction pace, must have also lost the same percentage.

“A little more until the end, right? Well, it won’t look little for us,” Eguchi nervously joked.

“Meh, they’re gainin’ height every time we turn around. Honestly, by now, a few more meters ain’t that much of a difference,” Ryou.seemed to have gotten used to our small size. I wondered if he was just putting on a brave face, but he was his usual self. 

Ryou wasn’t exactly the best at mathematics, so he was probably unaware that the pace was going to quicken. A few meters was an understatement as to how much everything would be getting.

I would have told him, but entering the model skyscraper, my face turned blue.

“Haah?”

My face. No… multiple copies of my face were pasted around the walls, ceiling, and floor of the bottom floor of the model skyscraper. Kamiya-senpai had been busy, but apparently she had enough time to give me another surprise inside a model like she had done with the Portable Hotel Room.

“Ah, yeah. We had the same reaction too. That one senpai is your acquaintance, right, Touya-kun? She mentioned she worked on the models? She said to give you a surprise,” Eguchi told me. He had a smirk on his face. He had kept silent the entire time waiting to see my reaction.

“Don’t worry, it’s just ta’ first floor’s that’s like this,” chuckled Ryou. He had a good laugh at my face.

“Kamiya-senpai…,” I shook my head. “Well, she probably did plan to put me in Okazaki’s district so I guess a little teasing was expected.”

I bet she was giggling, thinking to herself, ‘I wonder if Kirishima-kun has seen it yet.’ The photo was my school photo from when I was a first year. It was a bit embarrassing to see it all over the place like posters. The entire first floor of the building made me picture a stalker’s room.

“You’re well liked ain’t ya’, Kiri?” Ryou nudged my sides with his elbow repeated. “C’mon, let’s get up and get your stuff. I swear, the view’ll be worth ta’ embarrassment.”

I hoped it was. We headed over to the elevator which worriedly had a sign with symbols that looked like a shoe and vibrations. ‘Usable during earthquakes’ was what it said. This was apparently designed to work even while the giant girls were about. I wondered why this hadn’t been implemented in normal buildings yet, but I wagered a guess that it’d be very expensive. 

That was when I discovered there were only three buttons - one for the first floor, one for the top floor, and one for emergencies. I was reminded once again that these were things made just for the Reduction Program’s usage. The memory of my adventure with Yae and the equipment we had been given the night before flashed by my eyes.

“Hold on tight,” I heard Eguchi say as he pressed the button for the top floor. Immediately, I could feel a ridiculous level of acceleration as our bodies seemed to be pushed into the floor by the elevator’s rapid ascent. It was just like the ascender from the climbing gear. 

We made it to the top in just 4 seconds. I expected the elevators to be quick, but this was beyond ridiculous. However many floors we had passed, I didn’t know, but what I did know was that all three of us needed a breather when we arrived. I rested on a bench while Ryou went to grab us a few bottled waters from the vending machine. The observation deck of this building was fully-furnished.

“I’m surprised my ears didn’t pop. Guess there’s not too much of a pressure difference at this size,” I mumbled.

“You’re worried about the pressure, Touya-kun? Should you be looking out the window? Even though we’re in a model, it looks pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

I couldn’t argue with Eguchi. It was amazing - surreally amazing. From our vantage point atop the tallest building, we could see the entirety of the district… which was a lot less than I’d expected. I couldn’t tell while I was on ground level, but there weren’t that many blocks in the single distract in the first place. It wasn’t even to the level of a ward after all. There was an abrupt cut off in all directions because the entirety of the model was made perfectly square. Beyond that was just the flat, wooden floor of the school gymnasium. This distinct end to the district made it clear that this was a model. As realistic as they made it, there was no denying how small we were if we compared how we would look while wandering the streets below to the shoes of the girls around us.

Speaking of them, the giant Yae and Okazaki, were still talking to one another. Yae was standing and Okazaki was lying down stretching with her belly on the floor. I frowned as I checked the Tracer Belt’s reading and confirmed I was 0.32 cm. 

On the top floor of a 240 m building, we were, at best, level with Yae’s knees, just barely past the white socks she switched to for gym. Each of her smooth legs were far thicker and taller than the building we were in. We would need multiple of these skyscrapers stuck together and then stacked ontop of one another to be able to match just one of Yae’s legs. It made sense. We had lost close to 25% more of our height already. My 160 cm neighbor was now 900 m tall, and she’d soon hit a full kilometer. 

Okazaki was no different in her size despite being a short girl normally. Having her lying down in the distance made it look like she was a chain of hills just outside of the city’s limits. Her legs would require several minutes to walk the city blocks needed to get by them. The residential apartments and high rise buildings couldn’t even compare to her while she was lying flat on the floor. She was swinging her legs freely as she talked, bringing them up to the height of the skyscraper and down casually. We could feel the vibrations of her motions through the shaking ground.

Despite their presence and their occasional glances at the building we were in (which Yae was aware of thanks to the Tracer Belt), the two girls did nothing while I went to get the ID badge. It was in a locked room on the top floor as they had mentioned, past a snaking hallway that felt annoying to navigate around. Thankfully, I went in to get it without any trouble. I appreciated the easy victory for the session, but despite the quota being met, there was no way the session would be over if it hadn’t truly started yet.

When I returned to Eguchi and Ryou, I saw that the number of peach and white towers we were able to look out and see had increased. The other girls had arrived.

“Uueeeh... It’s like an actual city. The buildings and roads look so real.”

“Everything looks so puny. I can step over almost all of the buildings.”

“... That tower over there… Is it getting smaller…?”

“Huh? Hey, now that you mention it...”

Besides Yae and Okazaki, there were three other girls who had arrived. I honestly wondered if this had been set up considering who they were.

Satou was hesitantly looking at the city from a distance, looking around the streets apparently trying to see if she could see anything wandering around. Since the only living beings, us, were in the skyscraper, she found nothing. She was trying her best to not get too close out of worry she’d break something.

Tsujimoto on the other hand was curiously raising her right foot off the ground. Though she wasn’t close to the buildings, she wanted to see how much higher she was putting it above them.

Yukimura was curiously looking around the entirety of the city. It worried me to notice that she was the only girl without socks because of her normal barefoot habit.

What Yukimura had noticed though, was an important thing. Yae and Okazaki had the job of explaining to them what was going on because the girls were the ones who were learning this session.

“You noticed, Shizuku-san,” Yae confirmed. “The city’s a crazy surreal imitation, but it’s Reduced just like the boys. It’s shrinking along with them.”

“Really, Yae-san?” Satou was surprised. “I thought the boys were already done getting smaller.”

“Well, Senpai,” Okazaki started, “a few millimeters isn’t much to us, but that’s the rest of their height to them. Kirishima-senpai was 4 mm earlier, but he’s exactly 3 mm now, isn’t that right Asano-senpai?”

“Yes,” Yae nodded. “The city took up more space a few minutes ago. It’s kind of scary how fast it looks.”

“Sheesh, you’re right,” nodded Tsujimoto who realized it from what she was seeing. “You can actually see the city getting smaller. What the heck...”

“This is how we end up putting scale into perspective,” Okazaki grinned. “It’s hard to tell when you’re just looking at the boys’ height, but with an entire district, it’s easy to see, right? I’d be cooler with a whole city, but Kamiya-senpai said she’d be too tired to set all that up.”

The girls were coming to an understanding of how fast the Reduction pace was to us. While that was good for them, the continous shrinking had turned the 7 m by 7 m square of a district into 5 meters. There was enough room for all five of the girls to walk around the district and surround it. They were a kilometer tall now to us. It was crazy how high up their heads were. We could keep our eyes in focus due to how distant they were up above us.  

“So what are we doing this time?” Tsujimoto asked, putting a hand on her hip.  

“You’re allowed to take a look around the city and play around as long as you’re careful,” Okazaki stated after checking the paper she had been reading from before. “The original size of the city is marked with tape so you should be able to see what the original size was.”

“Eh? Seriously?” Tsujimoto raised an eyebrow. “Feels like we can wreck this place without any effort though. Isn’t that a bad thing?”

“Senpai and the others have probably been through worse today,” Okazaki told her. “But just so Kamiya-senpai doesn’t get angry at me, please don’t make too big of a mess. You can step on the buildings, but don’t lose them. Go on! You should scare the boys as much as you can today! Isn’t it cool to be so much bigger than them?”

Us guys weren’t exactly calm hearing what Okazaki was trying to incite. The girls were going to be given free rein to do as they pleased to the city. Furthermore, considering their relationships to us and their personalities, we felt rather vulnerable.

“So, who are the guys? I’m guessing Kirishima’s here if Asano is,” Tsujimoto wanted to know.

Yae shrugged and turned to Okazaki while tilting her head. “That’s a good question. Okazaki-chan, who is in this district? They were too small for me to recognize earlier.”

Okazaki had the list of boys she was responsible for in the district. “Let me check, Senpai… Hm… We have Natsume-senpai and Eguchi-senpai as well.”

“Natsume? Crap..  Again?.” Tsujimoto recognized Ryou’s surname immediately and pulled her foot away from the district.

“Eguchi-kun...?” “Eguchi-kun?” Satou and Yukimura went on alert at the mention of his name.

“Oof. Maybe we shouldn’t have mentioned that, Okazaki-chan,” Yae groaned at how bright-eyed Satou and Yukimura got. “Now those guys are in danger.”

“I’d like to think I’m pretty careful,” Tsujimoto frowned. “Though with Ryou here, guess I should hold back.”

“I was referring to the other two more than you, Tsujimoto-san,” Yae pointed at Yukimura who was already taking off her shoes and Satou who was now looking around the streets for any sign of movement. “What’s this about Ryou-san?”

“Grk… No, nothing.”

Eguchi, Ryou, and I huddled together after seeing and hearing what was going on outside the building. Tsujimoto’s slip up aside, she seemed to care for Ryou so we were able to classify her as less dangerous compared to Satou and Yukimura. Those two were on a search-and-capture mission.

“Eguchi, let’s hope it’s Satou who gets you and not Yukimura,” I told him.

“I’d rather neither of them catch me. Maybe it’ll be safe if I just stay here?”

“That’s my plan unless we got a reason to get outta’ here anyways,” Ryou declared. “Though I’m wonderin’ if we should go ta’ the first floor? Better escape routes, right?”

Ryou had a point, but there was no such thing as escape routes for us, quite honestly. Yukimura had already taken to the model district and stretched her legs onto it. She pushed over numerous buildings trying to place one of her legs along a street that was obviously too narrow to fit it. 

“... This is funny… It’s like a toy city…,” Yukimura smiled, clearly enjoying herself.

Okazaki could relate. “Right? Don’t you feel like a big kaiju like this, Senpai?”

“Hey, Yukimura, isn’t that dangerous?” Tsujimoto was showing a surprising level of concern. “So many buildings are getting knocked over.”

“But isn’t that the best part? Being so big you can rampage over everyone?” my underclassman was a bit too ecstatic. “Rawr~! C’mon, Senpai! Join me!”

“Mmhmm… Kaiju are cool,” the odd girl nodded. She knew but she didn’t care. She swept her left leg across the ground slightly, knocking rows of buildings over without any resistance. It worried me to think that had been the street we had been walking down earlier. The buildings we had passed were smothered by Yukimura’s bare leg in the blink of an eye. From up above on the tower, it looked like she was just messing with the model district, but if we were down below, it would probably look apocalyptic as a giant peach colored wall swept over everything. Street signs bent and buildings toppled over like dominos. While this was worrying, I realized they weren’t made of ordinary materials because they would have broken and gotten crushed already. 

Yukimura started taking Okazaki’s suggestions in acting like a kaiju. The cat-like pose she was trying to make with her hands was cute, but besides curling her hands, her toes curled too, scrunching while her feet leaned forward. 

“I guess we’re safe as long as we’re inside?” I assumed. “Doesn’t look like these buildings get destroyed that easily. Still doesn’t feel like we’re out of hot water yet though.”

“That junior of yours seems to be distracting Shizuku with her love of kaiju at least. They’re destroying buildings, but not this one,” Eguchi remarked. I was sure it was less her love of kaiju and more her enjoyment of being big, or rather, gigantic. Her being short and wanting to form a shorty alliance was one thing, but she seemed to have developed a new interest since learning about the Reduction Program.

Well, so long as Yukimura was temporarily distracted, that was fine with all of us. We were still going to be in for a wild ride, though. All three of us pressed against the glass to see what would happen next. Though we knew there was danger, it was morbid fascination, like stopping to watch a traffic accident. 

Satou wanted to get a closer look at the district. She got down on her stomach and pulled herself across the floor towards it. Her gym uniform seemed to be at its limit from what I could see of her conspicuous chest as it brushed against the buildings along the edge. 

“So we can play around for class today? That sounds relaxing. And Eguchi-kun is here too. We got lucky, Shizuku-chan,” Satou smiled as she reached down and pulled a four-story apartment off the ground. She held it in her hands like a piece of candy. “W-wow. These are so cute. I wonder what they look like inside.” 

“They’re all fully furnished, actually. Touya spent the night in something like this yesterday,” Yae approached Satou to share her knowledge. “Who knows: Eguchi-kun might be in one of these.”

“E-Eh? But there’s so many! Uuee… Eguchi-kun, can you come out? I want to see you.”

A cat-like smile appeared on Yae’s face. She was happy not to be the one being teased. “I don’t know where he could be, but I saw the boys head into that arcade building there earlier.”

“Really?”

Well, we weren’t getting back to play any fighting games any time soon. Satou immediately plucked the reduced arcade off its foundation and looked into it from the open entrance. She was disappointed none of us were inside and put it down beside her. She started to look around further while lying down. It was a sight seeing her breasts completely smother the district below until everything was no longer in sight. I wondered what it would be like beneath those building-dwarfing meteors.

Tsujimoto was a bit more cautious. She tried tip toeing about, but there was no place to really put her feet that were easily wider than the streets were. She still ended up stepping on buildings as she walked into the district. She was a sharp girl, though, knowing where to head to find us. When she arrived at the skyscraper, she squatted down. We were beneath her knee level by now, so all we could see was her white sock rising up above us while we were on the top floor.

“Crap… I can’t tell at all… Even this thing’s too small,” she frowned, unable to see us inside.

“This is what being this tall would be like,” Yae giggled at Tsujimoto’s frustration. 

“Not sure if I’d like being this big. Good thing we’re not wearing skirts,” Tsujimoto was debating on whether or not to lie down and inspect the windows or to lift it up. Though Tsujimoto wasn’t being the least bit rough, we nervously fretted as we felt her grip on the entire building. This difference in power between us was just too vast. “Though I gotta admit, thinking how much I must be freakin’ the guys out is pretty awesome. I never thought we’d be skyscraper sized to them.”

They were beyond that. Tsujimoto’s head would be in the clouds we were regular sized.

“Is she letting go anytime soon? It’s a miracle the glass isn’t breaking. What’s it made of?” Eguchi wondered.

“I dunno, but she ain’t stoppin’ til’ she spots us,” Ryou knew Tsujimoto enough to understand her way of thinking.

And indeed he did. Tsujimoto let go over the building, deciding not to pick it up, but then got down on her stomach just like Satou. We pulled back when she approached the building again. Her head was practically the size of it.

“Gah… This is some show I’m putting on,” Tsujimoto was conscious about the pose she was making while the breasts were touching the floor like Satou. We couldn’t see it at all, though because all we saw her was her face, and we couldn’t even pay attention to that either, as the sound and vibrations of her voice at close range forced us down as we tried to cover our ears. Tsujimoto eyed the observation deck on the top floor. “Oh. Sure enough. There they all are.”

“So they’re still all together?” Yae asked.

Tsujimoto’s eye filled our vision as it got close to the glass. Not only was it many times our size but we could see all of our reflections in it at the same time. Her gaze seemed to see right through us. “Sheesh. It’s hard to make them out, but I’m sure that’s them. They’re all frozen stiff. Hey, Ryou. Don’t get all weak in the knees just because of lil’ ol’ me.”

“She’s teasing you,” I muttered.

“Nah. She’s just puttin’ on a brave face. Look at her ears. They’re all red,” Ryou pointed Tsujimoto’s ears out when she turned her head to tell the other girls where we were.

As curious as I was to Ryou’s and Tsujimoto’s relationship, there were literally bigger concerns on my mind.

“Uwoh!” all three of us pulled back when Tsujimoto moved. She got up and turned around to speak to Satou and Yukimura, so she sat up. We were treated to a view of her gym uniform clad butt seated around half a meter away from the building. I could see that a number of the high rise buildings we had passed along the way were beneath her, either toppled over, or smothered beneath her rear end. 

“Hey, you two. I found the guys. Come over if you want to see.”

Alerting the other two to our location, Tsujimoto was still as playful as ever. I thought she’d be a bit more cautious around Ryou, but I supposed she couldn’t avoid telling Eguchi’s admirers about where he was either. However, before Yukimura and Satou moved, our reduction seemed to quicken.  

“Uuee? The city is moving?” Satou noticed something was odd when her breasts were no longer pushing against the edge of the district.

“Moving? A-Ah. Tsujimoto-senpai, you might want to stand up,” Okazaki realized something a bit too late.

“Huh?”

While reduction had been consistent for most of the week and day, there was a hiccup in the steadiness now that we were near the end. As Okazaki had mentioned, there was going to be a burst in shrinkage. From 0.3 cm, we went down to 0.2 cm. 1 mm was not a lot considering the tracer belt only ticked down from 0.30 to 0.20, but that was a third of our height lost. All of the girls seemed to grow from 1 km to 1.5 km.

That wasn’t the only issue. Tsujimoto’s butt which we seemed to be moving towards was the second. It was like we were being pulled towards it.

“Hey, back away from the glass, guys,” Ryou yanked me and Eguchi by the collar and dragged us back as the side of the building started to push against Tsujimoto’s shorts. The glass pressed against her, and the entire building started to tilt.

“Whoa!” All three of us slammed into the wall as the building fell over on its side. The wall was now the floor and the glass was now the ceiling. We looked up to see a shadow cover us.

“Kyaa!” Tsujimoto yipped in surprise. Something had touched her butt: us. “What the-?”

“Y-Yeah, that happens,” Okazaki was apologetic for not mentioning things sooner. “Um… There’s a science lesson in this session too.”

“A science lesson?” Yae repeated. She thought about it for a moment before realizing what the lesson was. “Oh! Am I guessing it’s about the center of mass? Is that how reduction works? Things get smaller towards the center?”

“Yeah. Tsujimoto-senpai, that’s the center of the district, so all the buildings are moving to you as they shrink,” Okazaki nodded. “If the boys shrank all at once from the start actually, they’d have ended up in the air.”

Tsujimoto was less concerned about the science and more about dealing with her current embarrassment. “Was there any reason it happened so quickly all of a sudden? Gyah, this was the building the guys were in, wasn’t it?”

Tsujimoto butt seemed to shift and grow, but it was just us who continued shrinking. The entire body was engulfed beneath her shorts. I could hear the straining and buckling of the structure beneath the girl’s weight.  It was like being trapped under a landslide. An ordinary building would have probably been flattened beneath Tsujimoto’s curves. Tsujimoto’s squirming dragged us along with her butt as it dragged the building across the ground.

“Damnit, Kirika, for once I’ll agree you need to lose some weight,” I heard Ryou grumble.

“Well, we’re kind of stuck here,” Eguchi frowned. “I don’t think we can get out of the building like this. I don’t think the elevator’s going to work either. ”

To think Tsujimoto’s rear end would get us trapped in a toppled building. She didn’t even come to us. We came to her inadvertently. This was certainly an experience, being stuck in a collapsed building beneath a girl’s butt. I didn’t think there was any emergency drill that could have prepared us for this. The girls were beyond the level of natural disasters with what they could do.

Thankfully, Tsujimoto was not in the mood for any further embarrassment. She stood up and jumped backwards, stepping on a number of buildings on her way out. We were free to see the light again.

“Gah. That was embarrassing,” I heard Tsujimoto’s voice. “Damnit. Ryou’s gotta be laughing at me. I can’t believe I just gave him a damn show. Gotta wipe his and the other’s memories somehow...”

We weren’t going to forget no matter how much she tried, but at least for Tsujimoto, none of us were laughing. I doubted any of us would be as we were more preoccupied with another face that entered our field of view.

“Ah, it was true. I can see them,” Satou crawled her way over through the city to where we were. Her hand closed in on us and wrapped around the building which was now less than 30 cm tall and thinner than an ice pop. We were thrown around as Satou lifted it up and towards her face, the entire tower held tightly between her fingers. “Let’s see… One, two, three. Yup. That’s all of them.”

Satou’s finger poked against the glass. It blocked out the entirety of the observation deck’s window and the windows of the floors below us too. The entire tower was now at Satou’s mercy. The giant girl pressed it against her cheek happily.

“Mmmm~! They’re so small, it’s so cute. Eguchi-kun’s in here too~!” Satou was letting her attraction to Eguchi get the better of her.

“Um… Satou-senpai, you’re rubbing a bit too hard there,” Okazaki was concerned for us guys who were being launched from the floor to the ceiling and back repeatedly by Satou rubbing the tower against her face.

Yae sighed. “It’s no use, Okazaki-chan. This is how she gets when Eguchi-kun’s around.”

“Well, at least she’s being gentle,” Tsujimoto remarked.

She really wasn’t, but she was the lesser of two evils at the moment, and we, unfortunately, were going to be facing Eguchi’s other admirer next.

“No fair… Me too.” Yukimura complained and jumped the seated Satou from behind. To everyone’s surprise, she nibbled on Satou’s ear.

“K-Kyaa!” Satou squealed. Immediately, all three of us boys felt weightless as she dropped the building. We didn’t fall all the way to the floor immediately, however. We landed on top of Satou’s sizable bust. We were in a precarious position as Yukimura continued to hold Satou. “Shizuku-chan, not where everyone can see, please!”

“Holy cra-! They’re balanced on those tits,” Tsujimoto was in disbelief.

“Uwaaah, Asano-senpai, should we get Kamiya-senpai? Or maybe Sensei?” Okazaki was blushing watching the close relationship between the two girls.

Yae was not going to be able to help and she knew it. “I wish that’d help, but it’s probably useless. Welcome to a normal occurrence in 2-D.”

It was a normal occurrence considering Yukimura’s unpredictable personality. I never expected to be in the middle of it all at this scale though. I glanced at the Tracer Belt to see what reading it had for my height.

0.18 cm. That was 1/1000 of my normal height. We were seriously a thousand times smaller in a shrunken building atop Satou’s breasts. Despite all of Satou’s movements and the bouncing of her chest, her body was solid ground for the skyscraper to remain on. While I had a similar experience on Yae’s bosom before, this was a new scale, nearly ten times smaller than I had been this morning.

“Kyahahaha! Shizuku-chan stop! That tickles!” Satou continued to move about, causing earthquake after earthquake. The three of us weren’t sure whether it’d be safer out if we had left the building earlier or not with how often we were being thrown around.

Still, with all of the moving around, it was inevitable that we’d fall off.

“Whoa!”

The mock-Sunshine 60 slipped off Satou’s breasts and down to the ground. The three of us got to feel first-hand what being in a collapsing tower would be like as the building landed top floor first and tipped over onto its side.

“Urgh… That hurt… Everyone alive?” “Maybe a little traumatized...” “You’re tellin’ me...” 

The three of us were not enjoying the roller coaster of trouble around us, but being at the whim of giants a thousand times our size was never going to be easy. Yukimura wasn’t done yet either. After incapacitating Satou (who Yae and Okazaki had to drag off of the city to help recover), she moved onto her true target: Us. 

“Wah! Here we go again,” Eguchi remarked as the tower was lifted up by Yukimura’s fingers and set upright once more.

Thud. Thud.

“Gaooooo~,” a deadpan yet playful roar came from Yukimura’s mouth as she sat down by the tower. “How is it, Eguchi-kun and friends? Am I scary?”

Absolutely. That is what I wanted to say, but I was frozen in place. While Eguchi and Ryou were looking up, trying their best to process what was going on, I was honestly stiff.

At 1000 times our size, Yukimura was a 1.7 km tall giant. While that went without saying after all of this shrinking, that also meant her feet were the same height as the building to us.

… A bit bigger actually as I saw the number on the Tracer belt tick down further.

“Boy, am I glad we’re in here now,” Ryou uttered, seeing the dirt on Yukimura’s feet sticking to the glass. She hadn’t even touched the building with her toes yet, but she scrunched them, causing some of the dirt sticking to her to fall off.

“Shizuku, I’m going to need to have a talk with you next week,” Eguchi sighed, rubbing his arm which had taken the brunt of the damage during all of the chaos. 

We were, at least, safe from the smell of Yukimura’s feet inside the building. Much like the transport orb I had been using yesterday and this morning, it was tightly sealed as well as air filtered and conditioned. There was no doubt in our minds that if any of Yukimura’s smell sank it, we’d be choking and gagging. Quite honestly, there was a distorted air around Yukimura’s feet that we wouldn’t notice if we weren’t this small. 

In any case, it was clear I had developed a phobia. Yukimura’s feet, each the size of a tower, was beyond my imagination. She had sat down and flanked the building on two sides with them. Comparing us to her feet, we could stand in the space between her toes without any difficulty. 

“Oh boy, I saw this comin’,” Ryou braced himself.

It had been easy to expect what Yukimura would do. She pressed her feet together around the building, sandwiching us between her bare feet as she playfully swung her legs away and towards her.

“Fufu…,” Yukimura exhaled in a manner that sounded like a laugh. “The building is so small… That means Eguchi-kun is too...”

I didn’t like what I was hearing, but none of us were in any state to think as we were slammed against the glass of the observation deck. On the other side of the glass, we could see Yukimura’s skin was pressed against it. The wrinkles in her feet, the dirt clinging to her toes, and the whorls of her toe print were all clearly visible for us. It was more than intimidating realizing each of her toes were buildings in their own right and that we’d easily be smothered by them at our less than 2 mm size.

“Kaiju… huh? Then this is these great foot monsters….”

“Brace yourselves,” Eguchi warned.

Slam!

In a fraction of a second, Yukimura slammed both of her tower sized feet into the skyscraper. Our bodies were rattled from being slammed to the left and immediately to the right.

“Rolly~Rolly~Rolly~...” Yukimura continued to fool around with us, rolling the building up and down and then side to side with her feet. We were tossed and turned while she pressed down with enough force to flatten us into pancakes if it weren’t for the solidity Reduction seemed to grant the building. That force was continuously increasing along with the pressure as we continued to dwindle while she toyed with us.

“Uwah… That’s some hardcore stuff she’s doing here. Even I wasn’t thinking about messing with Senpai that much,” even Okazaki was astonished by Yukimura’s antics.

“Shouldn’t we be stopping her?” Yae asked. “I thought our job during this session was to protect the boys.”

“Shizuku-chan’s too far gone, I think,” Satou frowned, knowing her friend.

“Seriously. She does realize she’s in public, right?” Tsujimoto wanted to look away but couldn’t stop herself from watching out of morbid fascination. “Actually, it looks like some of the other girls are doing the same… Wow.”

We weren’t going to be saved by them. It seemed Yukimura was too much of a destructive force to be stopped. We could only endure and be swept away from the apocalyptic storm that was Shizuku Yukimura as she played with the building we were in with her feet.

We were only rescued when a whistle was blown.

“Alright, girls. That’s enough time messing around,” Kawamura-sensei called everyone’s attention. “You’ve got a quick ten minute talk with Kamiya over here, so come on over!”

“Eh…? Already…?” Yukimura stopped, frowning. She released us and tried to realign the building using her feet before she stood up. Her toe slammed down on the roof of our building and we were slammed into the windows when she pulled the entire thing to the left. 

We found our now 0.13 cm selves between and also staring up and up at Yukimura’s skyward bound bare legs.  Her knee seemed to be another tower’s height above us while her waist was the highest up we could see of her now. How tall were the girls now? 2 kilometers? More? 

It certainly seemed that way as Tsujimoto and Satou approached. The entire district, we saw, had all of its buildings knocked over and around. What was once a 7 m by 7 m area had also shrunken down to just a bit more than a 2 meter square, a children's playmat.

“Sorry, Senpais. That’s all we have for you this session,” Okazaki bowed. “I think all of the boys are going to need a rest, so if you could head over to Kamiya-senpai, that’d be great.”

“Shizuku-chan, you were a bit over-excited there,” Satou pouted, still miffed from being messed with earlier.

“Ah... Sorry,” she apologized and walked off of the shrunken district. When she was off, she picked up her shoes, turned back to the tower, and waved. “That was fun Eguchi-kun...”

“I’m a little embarrassed watching that,” frowned Tsujimoto. “So that’s what it’d look like messing with someone tiny. It’s like you’re playing with yourself.”

“L-Like Okazaki-chan said, this really puts things into perspective for you,” Yae seemed to take that remark to heart considering she had played with me yesterday.

“These sessions aren’t that long, but I think that was a good thing for the boys,” Tsujimoto nodded. “Sorry about the mess. The guys’ll be fine, right?”

“Yup. Yup,” Okazaki affirmed. “We’ll take care of them from here, so you don’t have to worry.”

We were grateful when our titanic classmates left District 3. We lost sight of them as they became distant blurs to us. The only two left were Yae and Okazaki. Since they knew where we were, they went and retrieved us immediately. Okazaki picked us out of the rubble and held the shrunken tower in her open palm.  

“That was rough, wasn’t it Senpais?” grinned Okazaki. “On the plus side, if you’re all in there, that means you don’t get the penalty.”

“I think dealing with Shizuku-chan was enough of a penalty,” Yae commented with a sigh.

“Nishishishi~ That must’ve been rough,” my underclassman couldn’t resist laughing. “Well, don’t worry, Senpais. Asano-senpai and I will take good care of you before the next session.”

Take care of us? I wondered what Okazaki meant, but before we could ask each other, my 145 cm underclassman wrapped her fingers around the 17 cm tower, covering the windows on our floor with her index finger and thumb. We were once again being taken along for the ride as Okazaki and Yae started to walk and leave the now ruined city district that was now a dirtied plat mat.